IDiUiam  f:  Stmckm'ann 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS 


JOHN  M.  PALMER 


THE   STORY  OF  AN    EARNEST  LIFE 


PERSONAL 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF 

JOHN  M.  PALMER 


THE  STORY  OF 
AN  EARNEST  LIFE 


CINCINNATI 

THE  ROBERT  CLARKE  COMPANY 
1901 


Copyrighted,  1901,  by 

MRS.  JOHN  M.  PAI.MER 


PRESS  OK   THE    ROBERT   CLARKE   CO. 
CINCINNATI,  O. 


DEDICATION. 


I  have  borne  a  part  in  some  of  the  most  important  political 
events  which  have  transpired  in  this  state  and  the  nation  dur- 
ing the  last  half  century;  my  own  share  in  them  was  small, 
but  that  small  share  is  dignified  by  its  connection  with  the 
great  actors  who  were  the  human  agencies  that  gave  to  them 
historical  importance. 

When  I  commenced  the  preparation  of  this  ' '  Story  of  an 
Earnest  Life,"  I  intended  to  dedicate  it  to  my  friend,  Lyman 
Trumbull,  then  living. 

We  met  first  in  December,  1839.  He  was  at  that  time  a 
lawyer,  and  lived  in  Belleville;  I  was  a  law  student,  and  came 
from  Carlinville  to  Springfield,  where  the  Supreme  Court  was 
in  session,  to  obtain  admission  to  the  bar. 

After  that  time,  Mr.  Trumbull  and  I  became  intimate 
friends,  and  agreed  upon  all  questions  of  principle  and  policy, 
until  the  close  of  his  life,  with  the  exceptions  which  I  shall 
probably  hereafter  mention. 

Mr.  Trumbull  died  at  his  home,  in  Chicago,  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  June,  1896.  He  was  a  profound  lawyer,  sincere  in  his 
friendships,  a  kind  husband,  an  affectionate  father,  and  an 
earnest,  patriotic  citizen. 

Now,  that  he,  like  Douglas  and  Lincoln,  Bissell  and 
Koerner,  and  a  long  catalogue  of  others,  once  my  friends  and 
political  associates,  has  passed  away  (and  but  few  survive),  I 
can  only  dedicate  what  I  have  written  to  the  ' '  People  of  the 
State  of  Illinois,  and  especially  to  the  Young  Men,"  who  may 
feel  some  interest  in  the  struggles  of  one  who  earnestly  sought, 
in  his  private  and  public  relations,  to  be  useful  in  his  "day  and 
generation."  J.  M.  P. 

W 


IN    MEMORIAM. 


If  all  the  men  and  women 

He  helped  when  sore  distressed; 
If  all  the  little  children 

He  loved  and  kissed  and  blessed; 
If  all  the  slaves  he  helped  to  free, 

The  battles  fought  and  won, 
The  civic  wrongs  he  righted, 

The  duties  he  has  done; 
If  all  the  poor,  frail  mortals 

Whose  tears  he  wiped  away, 
Could  come  from  earth  and  heaven 

And  be  with  us  to-day, 
Ah,  what  a  choir  invisible 

Of  blessings,  thanks  and  tears 
Would  thrill  the  hearts  that  mourn  for  him 

With  his  crown  of  earnest  years! 

— ELIZABETH  PALMER  MATTHEWS, 
(vi) 


PREFACE. 

THE  earthly  portion  of  "An  Earnest  Life"  was 
closed  on  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  September,  1900. 
Early,  while  the  rising  sun  proclaimed  the  coming  of  a 
glorious  Indian  summer  day,  the  summons  came,  and 
with  tender  thought  for  one  so  dear,  the  Master  gave  to 
"His  beloved  sleep"  from  which  he  awoke  "in  His 
presence." 

Many  times  during  the  years  spent  together,  we  talked 
of  the  going  hence,  and  while  with  reverent  submission 
to  whatever  manner  the  call  might  come,  he  had  ex- 
pressed the  hope  that  it  would  find  him  with  every  fac- 
ulty bright  from  use  and  "with  the  harness  on,"  ready, 
like  the  ancient  trapper,  of  whom  he  loved  to  read,  to 
answer  "Here !" 

God  granted  his  wish,  and  in  peaceful  slumber  he 
passed  away. 

We,  whose  privilege  it  was  to  be  with  him  in  the 
beautiful  simplicity  of  his  home  life,  beheld  his  character 
from  a  point  of  view  different  from  that  of  the  world, 
who  saw  only  the  wisdom  of  the  lawyer,  the  bravery  of 
the  soldier,  or  the  dignity  of  the  statesman.  Gentle  to 
the  last  degree,  he  had  a  deep  interest  in  the  weak  and 
oppressed. 

Humanity  in  every  phase  appealed  to  him.  Strong, 
self-reliant  and  buoyant  with  the  vigor  of  robust  health, 
he  was  always  ready  to  shield  those  less  fortunate  ;  his 
most  tender  care  was  for  the  weak  one,  be  it  an  afflicted 
child  or  a  stray  lamb  of  the  flock. 

The  bearer  of  many  burdens,  as  every  great  nature 
must  be,  he  had  the  faculty  of  catching  the  stray  sun- 
beams which  glinted  in  the  darkness,  and  possessing  a 
keen  sense  of  humor,  which  enabled  him  to  enjoy  a  joke, 
even  at  his  own  expense,  he  was  to  all  a  genial  companion. 

Being  an  ardent  lover  of  nature,  each  changing  season 

(vii) 


viii  Preface. 

won  from  him  a  tribute.  It  was  his  custom  to  bring 
to  our  notice  the  first  swelling  bud  of  spring-time  ;  to 
pluck  from  snow  and  icy  sleet  the  "Last  Rose  of  Sum- 
mer," and  a  something  in  his  nature  responded  to  the 
grandeur  of  a  thunder  storm. 

Music  was  his  delight,  especially  songs  of  the  planta- 
tion, weird  and  full  of  melody ;  the  gentle  strains  of 
a  childish  lullaby,  or  the  solemn  measure  of  majestic 
hymns,  associated  with  years  of  early  manhood,  and 
made  doubly  sacred  by  the  memory  of  voices  long  still, 
of  parents,  brothers  and  sister — yea,  of  many  dear  ones. 

The  writing  of  these  "Recollections"  was  a  labor  of 
love.  It  may  be  that  the  never-weary  fingers  dallied 
with  the  pen  while  memory  was  busy.  It  was  "hard  to 
select"  from  such  a  vast  treasure-house  that  which  might 
interest  all.  Most  lovingly  he  lingered  over  the  early 
years  and  paused  for  a  space,  while  in  imagination  he 
fought  again  the  fierce  battles  of  the  Civil  War  and  re- 
called with  reverence  each  brother  soldier. 

And,  as  the  busy  life  drew  near  its  close  and  new 
problems  and  important  issues  demanded  consideration, 
many  times  did  he  express  the  conviction  that  it  was 
"too  early  to  write  more  than  a  recital  of  facts:  at  a 
later  day  others  would  write  of  the  history  now  being 
made." 

Surely,  it  was  with  a  prescience  born  of  nearness  to 
the  world  beyond,  that  he  gave  utterance  to  the  belief 
that  when  the  last  chapter  was  written  he  would  '  'have 
nothing  more  to  do." 

Patient,  wise,  devoted  life  !  By  her  whose  privilege 
it  was  to  share  and  be  a  part  of  this  life  for  more  than 
twelve  beautiful  years  this  sketch  is  written. 

His  WIFE. 


JOHN  M.  PALMER. 


His  conscience  alone  he  served, 
However  small  the  cause,  or  great; 

Never  by  friendship  swerved, 
Never  turned  aside  by  hate. 

Honest  his  least  intent, 

Therefore,  let  but  one  line  be  wrought 
At  last  upon  his  monument: 

"A  man  who  acted  what  he  thought." 

— S.  E.  KISER. 
(ix) 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Birth  and  ancestry  of  the  author — Removal  to  Green  river  coun- 
try— Character  of  the  country — Politics  of  the  times — Slavery 
question — Removal  to  Illinois,  in  1831 1 

CHAPTER  II. 

Character  of  the  people  of  Illinois — Black  Hawk  War — General 
Semple — Death  of  my  Mother — My  Father  "  gives  me  my 
time  " — I  leave  home — Enter  Shurtleff  College — Brother  Elihu 
— Arrested  for  debt — Voting  in  Illinois  in  1836 13 

CHAPTER  III. 

Engaged  in  selling  clocks — Mob  in  Griggsville — First  meeting  with 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  and  John  T.  Stuart — Journey  to  St.  Louis — 
Arrival  at  Carlinville 22 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Read  law  with  Mr.  Greathouse — Candidate  for  county  clerk — Ad- 
mitted to  the  bar — Public  men  of  the  day — First  case  in  the 
Circuit  Court — Methods  of  study — Kindness  of  Judge  Breese. . .  27 

CHAPTER  V. 

Canvass  of  1840 — Impressions  of  Harrison  and  Van  Buren — Disap- 
pointment of  the  Whig  party — Scale  of  legal  fees  and  prices 
of  lands — My  marriage  in  1842 — Lawyers  as  politicians — 
Elected  probate  justice  of  the  peace  in  1843 36 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Elected  a  delegate  to  convention  of  1847 — Constitutional  pro- 
vision in  regard  to  banks — Provisions  in  regard  to  negroes — 
Incident  in  regard  to  Reverend  Albert  Hale — Investment  of 
school  money — In  regard  to  dueling — Township  organization 
law 43 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Elected  to  the  state  senate  1851 — The  Logan  Law — Major  Beatty 
T.  Burke — Quarrel  with  Douglas 56 

fxi) 


Xll  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Bloomington  Convention — Organization  of  the  Republican 
party — Platform  of  the  Convention — Delegate  to  the  Philadel 
phia  Convention — Fremont  and  Dayton — Platform  adopted — 
Affair  with  Major  Harris 71 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Nominated  for  Congress  by  the  Republicans — Defeated — Platform  of 
the  Republican  party — Decatur  convention — Elector  at  large — 
Chicago  national  convention — Nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln — 
Interview  with  the  New  Jersey  delegation 78 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Peace  convention — Organization — Personnel  of  the  conven- 
tion— Amendments  proposed  to  the  constitution — Insolence  of 
secessionists — Call  from  Judge  Douglas 84 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Visits  to  Cairo — Visits  to  Cincinnati — Anna — Douglas — Visit  from 
a  Kentucky  colonel — Muster  regiment  for  sixth  congressional 
district — Organization  of  14th  Illinois — Promoted  to  brigadier- 
general — In  command  at  Otterville — New  Madrid — Riddle's 
Point — First  sight  of  gunboats — Colored  preacher 91 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Retreat  to  Nashville — Mr.  Slate — Pulaski — Major  McKittrick  dis- 
covers a  friend — Arrive  at  Nashville 113 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Diary  kept  in  Nashville — Call  from  Mr.  Trimble — Capture  of  com- 
pany of  the  22d  Illinois — Arrival  of  Rosecrans  at  Nashville — Skir- 
mish with  the  enemy — Stuart's  creek — General  Rosecrans'  er- 
roneous report— First  day's  battle  of  Stone  River.  (1 862-1863.).  131 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Battle  of  Stone  River  continued — Military  eloquence — Cripple 
Creek — An  acquaintance — Mrs.  Morgan's  dress — Invitation  to 
breakfast — Skirmish  with  Rebel  cavalry — General  Garfield — 
Letter  to  Assistant  Adjutant  General — Political  situation  at  the 
North — A  prudent  preacher 148 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Manchester — Governor  of  Tennessee — Union  refugees — Cross  the 
Tennessee  river — Lookout  Mountain — Ringgold — Battle  of 
Chickamauga — Colonel  Robinson — Retire  from  Chickamauga — 
Russell's  battery — Fatal  order 166 


CONTENTS.  xiil 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Retreat  to  Chattanooga — Rebel  artillery — General  Rosecrans,  Mc- 
Cook  and  Crittenden  relieved — Resigned — Letter  giving  rea- 
sons— Letter  from  Lincoln — Wounded — Assigned  to  command 
of  14th  Army  Corps 188 

CHAPTER  XVIL 

Beginning  of  the  Atlanta  campaign — Johnston  abandons  Resaca — 
Movements  of  the  14th  Army  Corps — Assault  on  Kenesaw 
Mountain — Enter  Marietta — Battle  of  Peach  Tree  Creek — Cor- 
respondence— Relieved  of  command  of  the  14th  Army  Corps. . .  202 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Remained  in  Illinois  until  February — Letter  to  Mr.  Lincoln — His 
reply — Enter  again  upon  the  practice  of  the  law — Tried  for 
bringing  a  negro  slave  into  the  state — Visited  Washington 
for  Governor  Oglesby — Result  of  my  mission — Assigned  to  the 
command  of  the  Department  of  Kentucky — Conversation  with 
Mr.  Lincoln — Assumed  command  of  the  department — Address 
to  the  legislature  of  Kentucky — Correspondence — Orders 222 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Rumor  of  freedom  amongst  the  negroes — Fourth  of  July,  1865 — 
"Golden  Chariot"  and  'bosses' of  salvation" — Judge  George 
W.  Johnston — Indictments  against  me — Letter  to  Hon.  George 
Robertson — Election  order  of  1865— Revisit  the  old  home — Mr. 
Garrett — Letter  to  Mr.  Dana — Letter  to  the  president — Suc- 
cess of  the  conservatives — Letter  to  Judge  Trumbull 240 

CHAPTER  XX. 

The  guerrillas — Killing  of  Marion — Capture  of  "  Sue  Mundy  " — 
Magruder  and  Medkiff — Sentence  of  Davis  and  Berry — Mrs. 
Smith  and  Miss  Bailey — Feeding  the  guerrillas 267 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Inaugural  address — Condition  of  the  times — Change  in  situation  of 
North  and  South — Democratic  party — Railway  corporations — 
Governor  Oglesby — Public  schools — Incorporation  laws — Ve- 
toes— Local  taxation — Lake  front  bill  and  veto 280 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Mercantile  Protective  Company — Constitutional  Convention  of 
1870 — Detectives — Mobs — Bribes  — Fees  —  Railroads  —  Eminent 
domain — Pardons — Talk  to  colored  people  on  the  seventh  an- 
versary  of  emancipation — Address  on  the  reinterment  of  Gov- 
ernor Bissell .  312 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
The  Chicago  fire — Correspondence  with   Mayor  Mason,  and  the 

president — Message  to  the  general  assembly 343 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Meeting  of  the  legislature  of  1873 — End  of  my  term  of  office — Pro- 
vision for  education — Defense  of  grand  juries — Mobs — News- 
papers— Change  of  venue — Challenge  to  jurors— Pardons — 
Change  in  criminal  law  suggested — The  poor — Suggestion  of  an 
officer  to  represent  poor  prisoners — The  railroads , 378 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Presidential  canvass  of  1876 — Hayes  nominated  by  the  Republi- 
cans— Tilden  nominated  by  the  Democrats — Visited  Louisiana — 
Hayes's  electors  counted  in — Correspondence  between  Demo- 
crats and  Republicans — Report  to  Mr.  Hewitt — Nominated  for 
U.  S.  Senate — Declined  in  favor  of  General  Anderson — Election 
of  Judge  Davis 395 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Speech  of  welcome  to  General   Grant — His  reply — Obsequies  of 

Hon.  David  Davis  and  General  John  A.  Logan 432 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
Marriage  of  the  author — Nomination  and  canvass  for  Governor  of 

Illinois 458 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Letter  to  Hon.  James  E.  Campbell — Meeting  and  action  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic State  Convention — Speech  on  the  ratification  of  my 
nomination — Letter  from  Hon.  W.  E.  Mason — My  reply 465 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Take  my  seat  in  the  senate — Funeral  of  Senator  Plumb — Speech  on 
election  of  senators  by  the  people — Discussion  with  Mr. 
Chandler 475 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

Opposed  the  pure  food  bill — Favored  pensions  for  judges  of  the  su- 
preme court — Opposed  the  Indian  bill — Homestead  speech. . . .  496 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Correspondence  with  the  secretary  of  the  treasury — Defend  the  Dem- 
ocratic platform — Condemn  the  tariff — Oppose  licensing  dealers 
in  options — Speech  on  the  repeal  of  the  purchasing  clause  of 
the  "Sherman  Act"...  .511 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Argument  against  alteration  of  the  constitution  by  construction — 
Object  to  the  seating  of  Messrs.  Mantle,  Beckwith  and  Allen.. .  532 
/ 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Letter  to  Mr.  Isaac  H.  Webb — Letter  to  the  president 555 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
Oration  delivered  at  the  dedication  of  Chickamauga  Park 560 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

Resolutions  and  acceptance  by  the  senate  of  the  statute  of  Pere 
Marquette — My  speech  of  acceptance — Unveiling  of  the  Han- 
cock Memorial  Statute 576 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

The  meeting  of  the  Democratic  state  convention — Democratic 
leadership  —  Douglas,  Pendleton  —  Democratic  convention  of 
1892 — Democratic  convention  of  1896 — Money  planks  in  all  of 
the  platforms 589 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Visit  at  Galesburg — Address  on  Lincoln  and  Douglas — Met  General 
Buckner  at  Chicago — Begin  the  canvass — Home  of  Don  Dick- 
inson— Visit  to  Cincinnati 601 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

Anniversary  of  the  Bloomington  convention  of  1856 — Old  politics — 
Deaths 620 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


JOHN  M.  PALMER  (Civilian)        ....       Frontispiece 

FAC-SIMILE  OF  LICENSE          ......  SO 

STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS    .         ......  50 

LYMAN  TRUMBULL  (U.S.  Senator  18  years)   ...  70 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  (President  elect,  1860)      ...  80 

JOHN  M.  PALMER  (Military) 147 

LETTER  OF  LINCOLN       . 195 

DISCHARGE  FROM  ARMY 279 

RICHARD  J.  OGLESBY  (Governor  and  U.S.  Senator)        .  877 

JOHN  M.  PALMER  (Age  of  eighty-two)    ....  619 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Birth  and  ancestry  of  the  author — Removal  to  Green  river  country — 
Character  of  the  country — Politics  of  the  times — Slavery  question — 
Removal  to  Illinois,  in  1831. 

MY  earliest  recollections  go  back  to  a  new,  and  then 
sparsely  settled,  portion  of  Southern  Kentucky.  My 
father,  Louis  D.  Palmer,  was  born  in  Northumberland 
county,  Virginia,  on  the  third  day  of  June,  1781,  and 
was  the  third  son  of  Isaac  and  Ann  (McAuley)  Palmer, 
who  were  both  born  in  Northumberland  county  in  that 
state,  the  first  on  the  first  day  of  November,  1747,  and 
the  latter  in  June  of  the  year  1747 ;  they  died  in  Chris- 
tian county,  Kentucky,  within  a  few  months  of  each 
other,  the  oldest  persons  in  that  part  of  the  state.  My 
great-grandfather,  Charles  McAuley,  came  to  Virginia 
from  the  north  of  Ireland,  and,  as  may  be  inferred  from 
the  name,  was  of  Scotch  descent.  My  great-grand- 
father, Thomas  Palmer,  emigrated  to  Virginia  early  in 
that  century  from  England. 

My  grandfather,  Isaac  Palmer,  and  my  grandmother, 
Ann  McAuley,  were,  when  young,  baptised  by  Lewis 
Lunsford,  one  of  the  early  Baptist  preachers  in  Virginia  ; 
they  adhered  to  that  church  as  long  as  they  lived  with 
unshaken  fidelity. 

My  mother,  Ann  Hansford  Tutt,  was  born  on  the 
twenty-seventh  day  of  October,  1786,  in  Culpepper 
county,  Virginia,  where  her  father,  Lewis  Tutt,  and  her 
mother,  Isabella  Yancy,  were  born  about  the  year  1750. 

(l) 


2  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Their  ancestors  were  early  settlers  in  Virginia,  the 
Tutts  from  England  and  the  Yanceys from  Wales.  Their 
families  were  wealthy,  and  so  proud  of  their  connection 
with  the  established  church,  that  I  imagine  my  grand- 
father Tutt  did  not  join  in  the  revolutionary  movement 
in  Virginia  with  much  enthusiasm.  My  grandfather 
Palmer,  in  his  quiet,  stubborn  way,  took  part  in  the 
contest ;  he  appears  upon  the  roll  of  Revolutionary  sol- 
diers as  a  "minute  man,"  and  received  a  pension  of 
eight  dollars  per  month  for  his  services.  I  remember 
what  I  thought  to  be  the  excellent  wit  he  exhibited  in 
calling  Cornwallis  "Cobwallis,"  because  he  said  "they 
shelled  the  corn  off  him  in  Yorktown  !"  In  his  old  age 
his  heroes  were  Washington  and  Lafayette,  the  latter  of 
whom  he  remembered  only  in  my  day  by  the  name  of 
"De  Marcus,"  to  whom,  as  he  said,  "General  Washing- 
ton compelled  the  shelled  'Cobwallis'  to  deliver  his  sword 
at  Yorktown." 

His  life  was  spent  in  the  quiet  pursuits  of  agriculture, 
following  the  simple  methods  of  his  day.  I  remember 
that  his  pride  was,  that  he  "owed  no  man,"  and  that  he 
attended  the  monthly  church  meetings  which  were  always 
held  on  Saturday,  and  followed  by  Sunday  preaching, 
with  unfailing  regularity.  He  had  aspirations,  however, 
for  his  boys,  and  "bound  them  out"  to  learn  trades. 
Seven  years  was  then  the  term  of  an  apprenticeship. 
My  father,  when  fourteen  years  of  age,  was  bound  to 
Archibald  Mcllvaine,  a  cabinet-maker  doing  business  in 
Lexington,  Kentucky,  where  he  remained  until  his 
twenty-first  birthday,  June  3,  1802,  when  his  appren- 
ticeship expired. 

While  in  Lexington,  my  father,  who  was  then  and 
always  was,  an  omnivorous  reader,  made  himself  familiar 
with  the  meager  political  literature  of  the  day,  -and  be- 
came an  admirer  and  devoted  adherent  of  Mr.  Jefferson, 
while  I  even  now  remember  that  my  grandfather  dis- 
liked him.  He  insisted  that  Mr.  Jefferson  was  an  infidel, 
and  had  opposed  Washington.  Those  were,  in  his  esti- 


BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY.  3 

mation,  unpardonable  offenses.  My  father  and  mother 
were  married  on  March  22,  1814,  soon  after  he  re- 
turned from  a  campaign  in  the  northwest  against  the 
"British  and  Indians."  He  was  in  the  rifle  regiment 
raised  and  commanded  by  Colonel  John  Allen,  who  fell 
at  the  disastrous  affair  at  Raisin  river,  where  so  many 
brave  men  were  sacrificed  to  the  tomahawk  of  the  In- 
dians by  the  shameful  conduct  of  the  British  com- 
mander. From  all  accounts  I  have  heard,  General  Win- 
chester probably  lacked  capacity,  and  his  volunteer 
troops  were  insubordinate  and  reckless,  but  they  were 
brave,  and  if  left  to  themselves,  would  either  have  died 
with  their  arms  in  their  hands,  as  Colonel  Allen  and 
Captain  McCracken  did,  or  have  obtained  better  terms 
than  General  Winchester  did  for  them.  My  father  was 
on  detached  service  that  day  and  escaped  the  massacre 
which  followed  the  surrender. 

No  names  were  more  familiar  to  me  in  my  boyhood 
than  were  those  of  Colonel  John  Allen  and  Captain  Archi- 
bald McCracken,  to  whose  company  my  father  belonged  ; 
both  fell  at  Raisin  river,  gallantly  doing  their  duty,  and 
Kentucky  has  honored  their  names  by  bestowing  them 
upon  counties  in  that  state.  My  father  served  for  a 
short  time  after  the  affair  at  Raisin  river,  but  as  the  time 
of  his  enlistment  (six  months)  had  nearly  expired,  he 
was  not  present  at  any  other  affairs  of  importance. 
After  his  return,  he  visited  the  then  territory,  now 
state,  of  Indiana,  and  bought  land  on  the  Ohio  river, 
near  Madison,  but  after  his  marriage  he  abandoned  the 
idea  of  removing  to  that  state.  He  followed  his  trade, 
living  in  Woodford  and  Scott  counties  (I  was  born  in 
Scott  county  on  September  13,  1817) ,  and  until  the  fall 
of  the  year  1819,  then,  attracted  by  the  glowing  descrip- 
tions of  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  what  was  then  known 
as  the  "Green  River  Country,"  he,  with  my  mother,  my 
eldest  brother  Elihu  and  myself,  removed  to  Christian 
county. 

Our  removal  was  after  the  manner  of  the  times ;  we 


4  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

traveled  the  distance  on  horseback,  my  brother,  then 
four  years  old,  rode  on  the  horse  behind  my  father,  and 
my  mother,  on  another  horse,  carried  me  in  her  lap ; 
their  worldly  goods  consisted  of  two  hundred  silver  dol- 
lars and  two  horses,  as  I  have  often  heard — "the  silver 
was  carried  in  saddle-bags."  I  have  listened  to  many 
talks  about  their  removal,  but  only  recollect  that  my 
father  often  said  that  during  the  journey,  if  I  had  a  full 
allowance  of  food  and  sleep,  I  gave  no  trouble.  I  think  I 
have  maintained  the  character  then  earned  ever  since. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  in  Christian  county,  my  father 
bought  a  tract  of  land  containing  about  three  hundred 
acres  in  the  "Barrens,"  as  they  were  called;  the  land 
was  nearly  in  the  condition  of  some  of  the  prairies  in 
Southern  Illinois  ;  it  had  upon  it  scrubby  black -j  ack  and 
hickory  growth  which  showed  marks  of  the  fires  which 
had  swept  over  it  for  many  successive  years  ;  it  was 
easily  cleared  and  when  once  put  into  cultivation,  pro- 
duced excellent  crops  of  corn  and  tobacco,  which  after- 
wards became  the  chief  commercial  crops  of  that  part 
of  the  state. 

The  settlers  of  Southern  Kentucky  established  schools 
that  met  the  demands  for  instruction  in  the  essential 
branches  of  education  as  they  were  then  understood — 
reading,  writing  and  arithmetic  as  far  as  the  "Rule  of 
Three;"  later,  English  grammar  according  to  Lindley 
Murray,  was  introduced,  but  "grammar"  was  for  many 
years  treated  as  one  of  the  optional  studies,  being  con- 
sidered rather  ornamental  than  useful. 

My  teachers,  Isaiah  Boone,  a  relative  or  descendant  of 
the  famous  Daniel  Boone,  and  Hezekiah  Woodward,  a 
professional  teacher,  were  competent  instructors  and 
used  the  rod  of  good  sound  hazel  or  hickory  with  great 
energy.  I  received  my  fair  share  of  instruction  and 
punishment  and  do  not  distinctly  recollect  when  I  could 
not  read. 

Mr.  Boone  was  a  Baptist  preacher  and  allowed  no  pro- 
fane amusements  in  connection  with  his  school,  but  one 


BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY.  5 

of  Mr.  Woodward's  schools  was  closed  by  a  "barbecue." 
The  dancing  was  under  what  was  called  an  "arbor;" 
the  meats  were  cooked  in  the  "barbecue"  style  still 
practiced  in  some  parts  of  Illinois  ;  bread  was  provided 
by  the  families  interested,  and  a  "still-house"  near  by 
furnished  corn  whisky  for  the  occasion.  I  was  then 
some  ten  years  of  age,  but  from  that  time  until  we  re- 
moved to  Illinois,  in  1831,  our  manner  of  life  was 
uniform. 

Other  children  were  born  until  there  were  seven  sons 
and  one  daughter  who,  with  the  exception  of  myself, 
were  brought  by  my  father  to  Illinois. 

The  time  of  our  residence  in  Christian  county,  from 
1819  to  1831,  was  filled  with  important  political  and 
social  discussions  and  changes.  I  have  a  very  distinct 
recollection  of  the  great  contest  between  what  was  known 
as  the  "old  and  new  court"  parties,  which  commenced 
by  certain  rulings  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  (Supreme 
Court)  of  the  state. 

The  lands  in  Kentucky  were  generally  held  under  titles 
derived  from  Virginia,  of  which  Kentucky  had  been  a 
part ;  the  negligence  of  the  land  officers,  and  the  careless 
manner  in  which  surveys  had  been  made,  led  to  a  con- 
fusion of  boundaries  in  Kentucky,  and  involved  the  titles 
to  land  in  hopeless  uncertainty  ;  the  courts  were  crowded 
with  suits  which  involved  conflicting  surveys,  or  imper- 
fect transfers,  and  other  questions  of  like  character  to 
the  ruin  of  hundreds  who  had  bought  lands  in  good 
faith  and  made  improvements  upon  them. 

The  legislature  of  the  state,  in  order  to  relieve  the 
unfortunate  settlers,  passed  laws  for  the  protection  of 
occupying  claimants,  which,  had  they  been  enforced  by 
the  courts,  would  have  made  the  recovery  of  lands  against 
occupants  practically  impossible  ;  at  the  same  time  the 
people  were  poor  and  in  debt. 

The  legislature,  in  its  effort  to  relieve  them,  had  cre- 
ated banks,  and  attempted  to  make  their  paper  issues  a 
practical  tender  in  the  payment  of  debts.  The  method 


6  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

of  relief  was  by  what  were  known  as  "replevin  laws  ;M 
these  laws  gave  to  the  debtor,  after  the  tender  of  pay- 
ment in  bank  paper,  the  right  to  stay  of  execution  upon 
judgments  on  a  tender  of  bond  and  security. 

The  exact  details  of  the  methods  provided  by  the  stat- 
utes, by  which  the  stay  of  execution  was  intended  to  be 
secured,  are  not  important,  for  whatever  they  were  the 
Court  of  Appeals  (which  consisted  of  John  Boyle,  chief- 
justice,  William  Owsley  and  Benjamin  Mills,  associate 
justices)  held  them  to  be  unconstitutional,  and  upon 
that  ground  refused  to  enforce  them.  In  1824,  an  at- 
tempt was  made  by  the  legislature  to  remove  the  chief- 
justice  and  his  associates  by  an  address  to  the  governor, 
but  in  order  to  remove  them  the  concurrence  of  two- 
thirds  of  the  members  of  each  branch  of  the  legislature 
was  necessary.  The  requisite  "two-thirds"  could  not  be 
obtained  to  the  address,  so  the  expedient  was  adopted 
of  repealing  the  law  creating  the  court,  and  in  that  way 
get  rid  of  the  judges. 

The  repealing  bill  also  provided  for  the  appointment 
of  other  judges  of  the  court,  the  governor  approved  the 
repealing  act,  and  appointed  other  judges,  who  it  was 
expected  would  support  the  validity  of  the  "relief  laws" 
and  other  laws  of  like  character  ;  but  Chief-Justice  Boyle 
and  his  associates,  Owsley  and  Mills,  refused  to  recog- 
nize the  validity  of  the  repealing  act,  or  to  surrender 
their  records  to  the  "new  court;"  the  state  had  fora 
time  two  "Courts  of  Appeals,"  and  the  people  were  di- 
vided into  parties  which  with  great  heat  supported  the 
rival  tribunals. 

My  father  was  a  "new  court"  man,  but  Mr.  Clay, 
who  was  then  strong  in  the  confidence  of  the  people  of 
Kentucky  and  most  of  the  conservative  men  of  the 
state,  supported  the  "old  court,"  and  after  a  contest, 
characterized  by  great  excitement,  the  "new  court"  party 
was  defeated.  A  majority  of  the  legislature  was  elected 
favorable  to  the  old  court ;  this  legislature  repealed  the 
law  under  which  the  new  court  was  created.  I  have  no 


BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY.  7 

doubt  now  but  that  the  new  court  party  was  wrong,  but 
the  names  of  Boyle,  Owsley  and  Mills,  sometimes  sar- 
castically called  the  "three  kings,"  were  for  a  long  time 
odious  to  me. 

I  have  mentioned  the  name  of  Mr.  Clay  in  connection 
with  the  "old  and  new"  court  controversy  as  support- 
ing the  "old"  court ;  I  think  that  fact  made  the  "new" 
court  party  his  enemies,  for  I  remember  in  1824,  when 
the  candidates  for  the  presidency  were  Adams  and  Jack- 
son, Crawford  and  Clay,  my  father,  and  his  "new  court" 
friends,  supported  Jackson. 

I  can  now  remember  a  political  song,  which  I  then 
read  in  a  newspaper  taken  by  my  father,  which  com- 
menced : 

"  Republicans,  cheer  the  hickory  tree, 
In  time  of  war  it  sheltered  thee." 

I  recall  but  these  two  lines  of  the  song,  which  was 
sung  to  some  familiar  hymn  tune,  but  I  remember  a 
whole  verse  of  another,  which  we  sang  to  •  the  tune  of 
"Auld  Lang  Syne:" 

"  Ladies,  you  are  much  mistaken, 

And  can  I  tell  you  why, 
For  General  Jackson  will  be  elected, 
And  Clay  will  surely  die'!" 

General  Jackson  was  not  elected,  however,  but  it  was 
then  one  of  the  articles  of  my  belief  that  he  was  defeated 
by  some  "bargain  and  intrigue,"  to  which  Mr.  Clay  was 
a  party. 

Of  course,  these  impressions  have  long  since  passed 
away,  but  thousands  no  doubt  believed  that  charge 
against  Mr.  Clay  upon  no  better  evidence  than  I  had. 

I  remember  the  presidential  contest  of  1828  with 
more  distinctness.  General  Jackson  and  Mr.  John 
Quincy  Adams  were  the  opposing  candidates.  Mr. 
Clay's  great  influence  kept  Kentucky  steady,  but  by 
that  time  General  Jackson's  popularity  was  greatly  in- 
creased, and  his  supporters  were  more  numerous  and 


8  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

bold  than  in  1824,  though  our  neighborhood  was  over- 
whelmingly for  Adams. 

I  remember  that  my  father  and  a  friend  left  our  house 
on  the  morning  of  election  day  to  go  to  Hopkinsville, 
the  county  seat,  where,  I  believe,  all  the  votes  cast  in 
the  county  were  received ;  my  father  and  his  friend  each 
carried  a  hickory  bush  as  a  sign  of  his  faith. 

In  the  meantime,  other  subjects  began  to  excite  public 
attention.  In  1829  or  1830,  the  neighborhood  was 
greatly  excited  over  what  was  called  a  "rising"  of  the 
negroes. 

Of  course,  there  were  no  just  grounds  for  apprehen- 
sion, but  there  were  many  credulous  persons  ready  to 
believe  such  things,  and  weak  and  foolish  negroes 
would  make  confessions  that,  though  they  carried  false- 
hood on  their  faces,  were  thought  to  justify  cruel  perse- 
cutions. 

At  the  time  to  which  I  refer,  the  alarmed  state  of 
the  public  mind  led  the  proper  authorities  to  appoint 
"patrols,"  called  by  the  negroes  "patter-rollers."  The 
patrols  of  our  neighborhood  were  idle,  reckless  young 
men,  in  most  instances  the  sons  of  respectable  farmers, 
but  some  of  them  were  the  overseers  of  wealthy  men, 
who  had  a  large  number  of  slaves. 

The  patrols  would  enter  any  kitchen  or  house  occupied 
by  negroes  without  ceremony,  and  if  any  visiting  negro 
was  found  without  a  "pass"  signed  by  the  master  of  the 
slave,  or  by  some  other  person  by  his  authority,  he  or 
she  was  at  once  whipped  by  the  patrol,  very  much  at 
their  discretion. 

Saturday  night  was  usually  chosen  by  the  patrol  for 
their  visitations,  for  that  evening  was  commonly  selected 
by  the  negro  men  for  their  visits  to  their  wives  and 
female  acquaintances. 

A  negro  woman  at  our  house  had  for  her  husband  a 
very  trustworthy,  quiet  man  named  Abram,  who  be- 
longed to  a  neighbor.  One  Saturday  evening  Abram 
came  as  usual  to  visit  his  wife,  America,  and  about  nine 


BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY.  9 

o'clock  the  patrol  surrounded  the  house,  to  which  the 
kitchen  was  attached,  and  prepared  at  once  to  force  open 
the  door  leading  into  the  room  where  the  man  and  his 
wife  had  retired  for  the  night. 

My  father  met  them,  there  were  two  or  three  of  the 
patrol,  and  objected  to  their  entry  upon  his  premises,  of 
which  he  claimed  exclusive  control.  I  only  remember 
that  he  was  firm  and  they  were  overbearing  and  insult- 
ing, the  more  so  as  he  was  understood  to  be  opposed  to 
the  institution  of  slavery. 

They  did  not  enter  the  kitchen,  but  left,  threatening 
my  father  with  the  law  as  well  as  personal  chastisement ; 
he  made  no  reply  to  their  threats  other  than  to  defy 
them  ;  I  had  never  before  seen  him  so  moved.  The  next 
morning  he  declared  he  would  no  longer  remain  in  a 
state  where  scenes  like  those  that  occurred  the  night 
before  were  possible,  and  he  announced  his  determina- 
tion to  leave  Kentucky  and  remove  to  the  free  State  of 
Illinois. 

This  announcement  startled  us,  for  we  had  no  idea 
of  a  state  of  society  where  negroes,  if  there  were  any, 
were  not  slaves  ;  our  mother,  as  we  inferred  from  what  \ 
she  said  in  her  efforts  to  dissuade  father  from  his  pur- 
pose, entertained  more  serious  apprehensions  than  we 
did  of  what  she  imagined  to  be  the  "social  conditions" 
of  a  "free  state." 

Father  soon  captured  the  imaginations  of  his  boys ; 
he  told  us  of  the  prairies,  of  lands  so  cheap  that  we  could 
all  be  landholders,  where  men  were  all  equal ;  this  con- 
sideration appealed  to  us  strongly,  for  we  already 
knew  of  the  superior  social  standing  of  our  wealthy 
neighbors. 

We  began  to  look  forward  to  the  time  of  our  removal 
to  Illinois  with  impatience,  but  with  all  that  my  father 
could  do,  he  did  not  complete  his  arrangements  for  leav- 
ing Kentucky  until  April,  1831,  when  the  family  started 
for  Illinois,  and  left  me  with  my  aged  grandparents,  to 


10  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

follow  the  next  fall  with  the  husband  of  my  mother's 
sister,  who  was  not  then  ready  to  go./ 

The  difficulty  with  the  patrol  had,  no  doubt,  injured 
my  father's  standing  in  the  neighborhood,  especially 
with  some  of  the  extensive  slaveholders,  and  what  may 
seem  strange,  his  views  upon  temperance  were  singular 
and  very  unpopular,  even  with  the  members  of  the 
church  to  which  he  was  attached. 

I  remember  the  appearance  in  Southern  Kentucky  of 
a  volume  of  discourses  by  the  Reverend  Lyman  Beecher, 
then  of  Connecticut,  directed  against  the  use  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors,  used  as  a  beverage,  but  I  am  not  able  to 
fix  the  exact  date  of  their  introduction  into  our  neigh- 
borhood. 

These  discourses  produced  a  sensation  that  can  now 
scarcely  be  understood.  At  that  time  the  use  of  whisky 
was  general.  I  remember  to  have  attended  a  church 
meeting  and  Sunday  preaching  at  the  house  of  Captain 
Radford,  a  wealthy  neighbor,  where,  after  religious 
services  were  concluded  two  or  three  negroes  entered 
with  "waiters"  upon  each  of  which  there  were  a  dozen 
or  more  glasses  well  filled  with  whisky  "toddy." 

These  were  passed  first  to  the  preacher  and  the  older 
brethren,  and  then  to  the  others,  and  none  failed  to  take 
a  share  of  the  contents  of  the  glasses.  Almost  every 
one  kept  whisky,  which  was  made  in  abundance  in  the 
neighborhood,  and  it  was  a  point  of  hospitality  to  offer 
it  to  every  visitor. 

We  had  two  good  neighbors  who  never  forgot  boys,  or 
negroes,  in  the  dispensation  of  their  hospitality  ;  and  to 
be  niggardly  in  this  respect  was  degrading.  I  remember 
at  a  muster  once  to  have  heard  a  local  poet  sing  of  a 
well-known  and  stingy  neighbor  : 


is  a  mean  man, 

And  everybody  knows  it ; 
He  keeps  good  whisky  in  his  house, 
But  never  says,  here  goes  it." 


BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY.  11 

This  expressed  the  popular  sentiment  of  the  man  who 
was  wanting  in  the  essential  characteristics  of  hospi- 
tality. 

My  father  and  Mr.  William  T.  Major,  a  neighbor  and 
friend,  became  convinced  about  the  same  time  of  the 
evil  effects  of  intoxicating  liquor,  and  my  father  I  know 
ceased  to  use  or  offer  it  to  others. 

This  was  the  subject  of  much  remark,  and  perhaps 
added  to  the  feelings  of  dislike  with  which  some  re- 
garded him  on  account  of  his  views  on  the  subject  of 
slavery.  At  all  events  he  sold  his  land,  and  in  1831 
came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Madison  county,  north  of 
Edwardsville  on  Paddock's  prairie,  and  about  ten  miles 
east  of  Alton,  where  he  entered,  I  think,  two  hundred 
and  forty  acres  of  land,  built  a  log  house,  and  in  the  fall 
of  that  year  I  followed  the  family  to  Illinois.  Those 
who  know  Illinois  now  can  have  no  idea  of  the  Illinois 
in  1831. 

After  passing  Hopkinsville,  the  seat  of  justice  of 
Christian  county,  Kentucky,  we  took  the  route  from 
that  place  by  way  of  Princeton,  in  Caldwell  county  to 
Ford's  ferry,  on  the  Ohio  river,  and  thence  after  cross- 
ing the  river  by  Equality,  Mt.  Vernon  and  Carlyle  to 
Edwardsville.  This  road  which  was  then  as  far  as 
Carlyle,  the  great  route  from  Southern  Kentucky, 
Middle  Tennessee  and  North  Carolina  to  Central  Illinois 
and  Missouri,  was  crowded  with  "movers"  who  were 
making  their  way  by  all  the  then  known  methods  of 
travel,  from  the  handsome  family  carriage  to  the  hum- 
blest ox-cart.  Many  families  traveled  on  foot  with  a 
pack-horse  to  carry  their  heavier  movables  or  for  the 
transportation  of  the  smaller  children. 

Such  modes  of  travel  are  never  noticed  now  to  any 
extent,  the  railroads  of  modern  life  make  scenes  such  as 
are  described  impossible. 

After  passing  along  the  road,  which  still  runs  some 
three  miles  west  of  McLeansboro  in  Hamilton  county, 
for  a  few  miles,  we  came  to  Moore's  prairie,  the  first  we 


12  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

had  ever  seen,  and  as  we  advanced  towards  Edwards- 
ville  they  grew  more  extensive. 

The  prairies  then  were  scarcely  marked  by  improve- 
ments except  very  near  the  timber  borders,  for  the  early 
settlers  dared  not  go  out  on  the  prairies  ;  many  persons 
told  us  that  the  prairies  would  never  be  settled,  and  for 
years  I  believed  that  prairie  land  more  than  two  or  three 
miles  from  the  timber  was  practically  valueless. 

But  the  prairie  in  its  natural  state  was  indeed  "a 
thing  of  beauty."  Sometimes  we  would  travel  miles 
without  seeing  a  habitation,  or  if  houses  could  be  dis- 
cerned, they  would  be  situated  at  points  of  timber  at  a 
greater  or  less  distance  from  the  roads ;  deer  would  be 
seen  in  herds  as  if  they  had  not  learned  to  be  startled  by 
human  presence. 

Nothing  was  more  animating  than  the  scenes  we 
witnessed  as  we  journeyed  over  these  long  stretches. 

Perhaps  the  imagination  had  much  to  do  in  finding 
objects  of  interest  on  the  prairies,  but  to  me  they  were 
enchanting ;  and  after  years  of  familiarity  with  the 
magnificent  undulating  acres  of  the  great  prairies  of 
Illinois  and  other  western  and  northwestern  states,  now 
that  they  are  all  inhabited,  dotted  with  cities,  towns, 
villages  and  highly-cultivated  farms,  they  linger  in  my 
memory  like  a  grand  restful  dream. 


REMOVAL  TO  ILLINOIS  IN  1831.  13 


CHAPTER  II. 

Character  of  the  people  of  Illinois — Black  Hawk  War — General  Semple — 
Death  of  my  Mother — My  Father  "  gives  me  my  time  "—I  leave 
home — Enter  Shurtleff  College — Brother  Elihu — Arrested  for  debt — 
Voting  in  Illinois  in  1836. 

After  reaching  my  father's  house  in  Illinois  in  Sep- 
tember, 1831,  I  found  myself  amongst  a  people  alto- 
gether unlike  those  I  had  left  in  Kentucky  ;  many  of  them 
were  natives  of  that  state,  but  they  were  changed  ;  they 
were  interested  in  subjects  that  were  new  to  me. 

Of  course,  the  entry  of  land,  the  improvements  upon 
public  lands,  the  breaking  up  of  the  prairie  and  matters 
of  that  kind  were  oftenest  the  subject  of  conversation, 
but  many  of  the  older  men  had  been  rangers  and  had 
fought  the  Indians  and  defended  their  homes  from  stroll- 
ing bands  of  savages  long  after  they  had  troubled  any 
part  of  Kentucky ;  and  religious  controversies  raged  in 
every  neighborhood  to  an  extent  that  seemed  to  me  to 
be  absolutely  unaccountable. 

The  Indian  disturbances  which  commenced  in  1831, 
furnished  some  relief  from  the  eternal  babble  of  the  des- 
potic leaders,  and  the  Black  Hawk  war,  in  1832,  found 
employment  for  many  of  the  old  Indian  fighters  in  the 
field,  and  subjects  of  interest  to  those  who  remained  at 
home. 

The  Black  Hawk  war  interested  me  very  much,  and 
once  seemed  likely  to  influence  my  life.  Before  I  came 
to  Illinois,  my  father  had  made  the  acquaintance  of 
General  James  Semple,  who  was  a  leading  lawyer  and 
politician,  and  of  magnificent  proportions  and  presence. 
He  was  amiable  and  kind  to  me,  and  in  the  spring  of 
1832,  when  about  to  start  north  to  join  the  command  to 
which  he  was  attached,  he  offered  to  furnish  me  a  horse 


14  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

and  such  equipments  as  I  would  need,  and  take  me  with 
him  on  the  campaign. 

I  was  then  fifteen  years  old,  and  was  delighted  with 
the  offer  which  I  accepted,  subject  to  the  approval  of  my 
father.  I  did  not  doubt  but  that  he  would  consent,  and 
hastened  home  to  report  to  him  my  opportunity,  but  he 
refused  to  allow  me  to  go  ;  it  was  my  first  great  disap- 
pointment, I  bore  it  in  silence  when  in  my  father's 
presence,  for  he  held  with  Solomon  on  the  use  of  the  rod 
in  family  government. 

I  did  not  go  to  the  Black  Hawk  war,  but  I  cherished 
very  kind  and  respectful  feelings  for  General  Semple  as 
long  as  he  lived. 

My  mother  died  on  July  19,  1832  ;  she  was  a  wife  and 
mother  of  the  old  type ;  she  spun  and  wove  and  made 
the  clothing  for  herself,  husband  and  seven  children,  six 
of  them  boys — for  there  was  no  ready-made  clothing  in 
that  day. 

I  remember  that  when  a  boy  I  filled  "quills"  for  her, 
and  the  "loom"  and  the  "shuttle"  were  familiar  to  her. 
I  don't  know  how  she  did  it,  but  she  always  kept  her 
children  well  clothed  and  clean. 

She  was  reluctant  to  come  to  Illinois,  and  died  two 
years  after  we  came  into  the  state  from  an  attack  of 
bilious  fever. 

She  filled  the  description  given  by  Solomon  of  a  good 
wife  :  "She  looketh  well  to  the  ways  of  her  household, 
and  eateth  not  the  bread  of  idleness ;  her  children  rise 
up  and  call  her  blessed ;  her  husband  also,  and  he 
praiseth  her." 

The  period  to  which  I  refer  was  one  of  great  prosperity 
in  Illinois  ;  lands  were  entered  at  one  dollar  and  twenty- 
five  cents  per  acre  ;  population  poured  into  the  state,  and 
employment  was  abundant  on  every  hand.  I  remember 
that  one  winter  with  a  younger  brother,  I  cut  saw-logs 
on  government  land,  and  by  that  means  earned  forty- 
eight  dollars ;  my  father  added  the  balance  needed,  two 
dollars,  and  the  amount  of  expenses  at  the  land  office, 


REMOVAL  TO  ILLINOIS  IN  1831.  15 

and  I  entered  forty  acres  of  land  in  my  own  name,  which, 
after  attaining  my  majority,  I  conveyed  to  my  father. 

The  next  spring  and  early  summer  I  drove  a  prairie 
team,  four  yoke  of  oxen  attached  to  a  twenty-four  inch 
plow,  at  eight  dollars  per  month.  I  worked  at  home 
when  needed,  and  finally,  in  the  summer  of  1834,  my 
father  "gave  me  my  time." 

This  expression  may  have  an  amusing  sound  to  the 
boys  of  this  day,  who  will  hardly  consent  to  give  their 
fathers  their  time. 

One  evening  while  my  father  and  self  and  younger 
brothers  were  discussing  the  subject  of  education  and 
matters  of  that  kind,  my  father  said  to  me  in  reply  to 
some  expression  of  a  wish  to  obtain  a  good  education, 
"Very  well,  sir,  you  owe  me  four  years'  service  yet,  I 
will  give  you  that ;  go  and  get  an  education." 

I  looked  at  him  with  an  expression  of  surprise,  no 
doubt,  and  asked  in  an  excited,  trembling  voice,  "When 
may  I  go,  sir?"  He  seemed  amused,  and  said,  "To- 
morrow morning,  if  you  like."  I  remember  that  I  left 
the  room  to  conceal  my  excitement ;  after  recovering  my 
composure,  I  returned  to  the  room  where  my  father  was 
seated,  and  sat  for  some  time  in  silence,  when  he  said, 
with  signs  of  emotion,  "I  have  no  money  to  expend  for 
your  education,  but  a  healthy  boy  as  you  are  needs  no 
help  ;  you  may  go  to-morrow  morning  ;  I  give  you  your 
time.  Don't  disgrace  me  ;  may  God  bless  you  !" 

This  scene  still  lingers  in  my  memory.  I  had  looked 
forward  to  the  independence  of  manhood  with  the  eager- 
ness of  hope ;  I  had  reveled  in  dreams  of  results  to  be 
accomplished ;  I  had  imagined  myself  a  successful 
farmer  or  lawyer  or  a  soldier,  successful  in  every  em- 
ployment. I  meant,  when  I  "got  to  be  a  man,"  to  be 
rich,  learned  and  happy ;  my  brothers  were  also  to  be 
happy  and  successful — and  even  then  there  would  come 
into  the  picture  a  girlish  face  that  was  to  share  in  the 
successes  that  I  imagined  were  to  attend  my  entry  upon 
the  sphere  of  manhood.  Here  was  an  offer  made  by  my 


16  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

father  to  anticipate  the  day  of  my  anticipation,  to  "give 
me  my  time."  I  accepted  his  offer,  and  as  he  had  said 
it,  I  knew  he  would  not  mention  it  again. 

That  evening  I  talked  to  "Roy"  and  "Frank,"  my 
brothers,  who  seemed  as  much  elated  with  the  prospect 
before  me  as  I  was. 

Next  morning,  after  an  early  breakfast,  I  left  home  on 
foot  without  money  or  clothes  ;  both  seemed  unnecessary, 
for  was  I  not  going  out  into  the  world  a  free  man,  where 
clothes  and  money  were  abundant,  and  to  be  had  by  any- 
one who  would  earn  them? 

The  boys  started  with  me,  and  they  called  the  dogs, 
three  of  them,  our  constant  companions ;  they  were  to 
go  with  me  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  a  mile  probably  from 
the  house.  We  had  crossed  Indian  creek,  when  the 
dogs  started  a  rabbit ;  the  boys  started  to  follow ;  I 
called  them  back.  We  waited  for  the  dogs  and  then 
moved  on. 

My  father  was  not  at  the  house  when  I  left,  but  he 
too  had  followed  to  a  bluff  we  had  passed,  and  from  that 
point  watched  us.  I  did  not  then  know  why  he  stood 
watching,  but  I  know  now ! 

When  we  reached  the  top  of  the  hill,  reluctant  to  sepa- 
rate, Roy  said  he  "knew  where  he  could  start  a  rabbit 
on  his  way  home."  He  called  the  dogs,  and,  without 
saying  a  word  to  me,  ran  off  at  his  utmost  speed,  fol- 
lowed by  Frank  and  the  dogs,  and  I  was  left  alone  with 
my  newly-acquired  fortune — "my  time" — with  all  of 
its  hopes  and  possibilities. 

The  boys  ran  until  out  of  sight.  I  understood  the 
reason  why  they  ran  very  well,  and  would  have  been 
very  glad  to  follow  and  overtake  them,  but  my  destina- 
tion was  Upper  Alton,  where  there  was  a  school  recently 
established.  It  was  understood  to  be  a  "manual  labor 
school,"  and  it  was  my  purpose  to  enter  that  institution 
and  pay  my  expenses  by  my  labor. 

I  reached  Upper  Alton  about  one  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, and  had  made  up  my  mind  before  arriving  there 


REMOVAL  TO  ILLINOIS  IN  1831.  17 

that  it  would  be  necessary  at  once  to  find  work.  I  had 
no  doubt  but  that  I  could  do  so  without  difficulty.  I 
needed  no  dinner — my  dreams  were  more  than  food — 
but  as  I  passed  along  the  principal  street  soon  after  en- 
tering the  town,  I  saw  a  man  named  Haney  plastering 
a  new  frame  house  for  Mr.  George  Haskell,  and  turned 
off  to  where  he  was  superintending  or  making  a  bed  of 
mortar.  I  asked  him  if  he  "wished  to  hire  some  one 
to  make  and  carry  mortar?"  He  said  he  did.  I  had 
never  made  mortar  for  a  plasterer.  He  put  a  shovel  into 
my  hand  and  told  me  how  to  manage  the  sand,  the  lime 
and  other  ingredients,  watched  me  work  awhile,  offered 
me  seventy-five  cents  a  day,  told  me  where  I  could  get 
board  at  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  week  ;  agreed  to 
be  responsible  for  me,  and  I  worked  that  afternoon  and 
continued  to  work  until  the  job  was  done.  I  do  not  re- 
member the  exact  number  of  days  this  required,  but  I 
do  remember  that  when  I  was  paid  and  had  settled  my 
board,  bought  a  shirt  and  a  pair  of  socks,  I  had  all  of 
five  dollars  left,  which  was,  as  I  thought,  clothes  and 
money  enough  for  anybody. 

I  then  entered  the  college,  and  for  awhile  paid  my 
board  by  my  earnings  on  Saturdays.  I  also,  with  my 
elder  brother,  Elihu,  took  a  contract  to  remove  the  trees 
from  a  street  leading  from  Upper  Alton  to  Middletown. 
The  trees  were  large  white  oaks.  We  grubbed  them  up 
and  were  well  paid  for  doing  so. 

My  brother,  who  was  three  years  older  than  I,  was  a 
remarkable  man  even  then.  He  was  athletic,  industrious 
and  possessed  a  natural  mechanical  skill  which  was  sur- 
prising. His  capacity  for  the  acquisition  of  languages 
was  so  great  that  it  seemed  as  if  he  knew  them  by  in- 
tuition. While  I  was  plodding  along  in  primary  Latin, 
he  surprised  me,  keeping  up  his  Greek  studies  and  at 
the  same  time  dipped  into  German. 

He  was  an  excellent  musician,  familiar  with  the  science 
of  music,  and  afterwards  became  an  acceptable  preacher  ; 
indeed,  he  was,  while  we  were  at  school,  preparing  him- 
2 


18  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

self  for  the  ministry.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  as 
guileless  and  simple  as  a  child. 

He  was  without  ambition,  and  had  no  fondness  for  the 
acquisition  of  property.  He  was  very  profoundly  sin- 
cere in  his  opinions  upon  all  subjects ;  he  was  earnest 
in  doctrinal  belief,  hated  human  slavery,  and  all  forms 
of  oppression,  with  an  intensity  that  almost  amounted 
to  fanaticism.  He  lacked  but  ambition  and  selfishness 
to  have  made  him.  eminent ;  he  labored  while  he  lived 
more  for  others  than  for  himself. 

I  remained  at  school,  in  a  desultory  sort  of  way,  un- 
til the  spring  of  1836,  when  the  country  was  filled  with 
rumors  of  the  "Texas  revolution,"  as  it  was  called. 
My  failure  to  carry  out  my  intention  to  unite  with  the 
volunteers  organized  at  St.  Louis  to  join  the  "Revolu- 
tionists" was  caused  by  an  incident  that  seems  now 
very  ludicrous,  but  was  at  the  time  a  crushing  blow.  I 
had  volunteered,  and  my  arrangements  were  made  to  join 
a  few  friends  at  Alton,  take  the  boat  which  it  was  ex- 
pected would  take  us  to  St.  Louis,  where  another  boat 
was  waiting  to  start  for  New  Orleans  on  our  arrival. 

I  spent  the  night  before  the  morning  fixed  for  my 
departure  at  my  uncle's,  two  miles  east  of  Upper  Alton. 
I  took  leave  of  my  relatives,  and  left  the  house  filled 
with  anticipations  of  the  battlefield  in  Texas,  and  started 
on  foot  with  a  small  pack  of  clothing  to  reach  the 
boat,  then  off  for  the  field  of  glory ! 

I  had  gone  a  mile  perhaps  after  leaving  Upper  Alton, 
when  I  was  overtaken  by  Mr.  John  Maxcy,  whom  I 
knew  to  be  a  constable  of  Upper  Alton.  He  spoke  to 
me  kindly,  inquired  where  I  was  going,  and  I  told  him 
to  Lower  Alton  to  take  a  boat  for  St.  Louis,  and  from 
there  to  Texas  to  take  part  in  the  revolution.  He  handed 
me  a  paper,  and  said  :  "Here  is  something  you  have  for- 
gotten!" 

To  my  astonishment  the  paper  read  :  "The  people  of 
the  State  of  Illinois,  Madison  county,  to  any  constable 
of  said  county,  greeting  :  We  command  you  to  take  the 


REMOVAL  TO  ILLINOIS  IN  1831.  19 

body  of  John  M.  Palmer,  if  he  be  found  in  your  county, 
and  bring  him  forthwith  before  me,  to  answer  the  com- 
plaint of,"  etc.  I  had  never  seen  such  a  paper  before  ; 
it  commanded  the  constable  to  arrest  me,  and  take  me 
before  the  justice  of  the  peace. 

The  constable  told  me  I  could  discharge  myself  by 
paying  to  him  four  dollars  and  a  half,  and  about  one 
dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  cost.  I  assured  him  that  I 
had  not  forgotten  the  debt,  but  had  arranged  with  my 
cousin,  Isaac  Palmer,  to  pay  it  for  me.  He  said  that 
might  be  "all  right,"  but  he  must  have  the  money  or  I 
must  go  back. 

Unfortunately,  my  whole  stock  of  money  did  not  ex- 
ceed two  dollars,  so  I  went  back,  humiliated  beyond 
measure.  I  arranged  the  matter  during  the  day,  but  to 
get  the  money  I  had  to  promise  to  go  to  work. 

The  steamboat  lost  a  passenger,  and  the  cause  of 
Texas  an  enthusiastic  supporter.  I  then  went  to  work 
again,  did  not  at  once  return  to  school,  but  paid  the 
money  I  had  borrowed  ;  and  then  in  the  May  following 
occurred  one  of  those  incidents  which  so  much  resembles 
fiction  that  I  cannot  forbear  relating  it. 

Many  persons  now  living  remember  Mr.  Enoch  Moore, 
of  Springfield,  whose  remarkable  form  had  so  often  at- 
tracted attention.  In  1836,  he  kept  a  tailor's  shop  in 
Upper  Alton.  One  day,  I  stepped  into  his  shop,  and 
saw  hanging  up  a  suit  of  clothes,  the  coat  and  pants 
were  of  some  cotton  goods  which  I  cannot  describe,  and 
the  vest  was  figured  like  calico. 

Mr.  Moore  saw  that  I  needed  clothes,  and  that  I  looked 
at  the  suit  with  interest.  He  told  me  that  he  had  made 
it  for  a  person  who  had  failed  to  take  it,  and  offered  it 
to  me  for  twelve  dollars. 

I  had  no  money,  and  told  him  so.  He  asked  me  my 
name,  and  when  I  told  him  he  said  he  knew  my  father, 
and  added  that  he  thought  I  could  earn  the  money 
and  pay  for  the  clothes.  I  finally,  with  great  hesitation, 


20  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

agreed  to  take  them,  and  for  the  first  time  contracted  a 
debt  deliberately. 

I  have  told  the  story  of  my  arrest,  which  I  supposed 
was  applicable  to  all  debts. 

During  May  and  early  June  I  paid  most  of  the  amount, 
and  on  the  evening  of  July  3d,  I  went  to  my  father's 
house  with  more  than  enough  to  pay  the  balance  due 
Mr.  Moore.  My  father,  who  saw  the  amount  of  money 
I  had,  and  which  "the  boys"  were  counting  with  great 
satisfaction,  said,  "Go  to-morrow  and  pay  Mr.  Moore, 
and  then  you  will  be  a  free  man,  but  now  you  are  a  ser- 
vant." On  the  next  day,  accompanied  by  my  brother 
Roy,  I  went  to  Upper  Alton,  on  foot,  paid  Mr.  Moore,  and 
had  money  left ;  went  on  to  Lower  Alton,  spent  freely 
(twenty-five  cents)  on  cake  and  spruce  beer  (of  the  old 
kind) ,  and  reached  my  father's  house  about  sun-down, 
a  proud  and  happy  boy. 

In  1869,  after  I  was  inaugurated  governor,  I  reminded 
Mr.  Moore  of  the  fact  that  he  had  sold  me  the  clothes  on 
credit,  and  reappointed  him  secretary  of  the  governor, 
ex  officio  fund  commissioner,  which  he  had  held  before, 
to  which  office  a  salary  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  a  year 
was  attached. 

In  August,  1836,  I  was  living  in  the  south  part  of 
Macoupin  county  and  attended  house  raisings,  and  other 
amusements  of  like  kind,  and  witnessed  and  had  oppor- 
tunities for  familiarizing  myself  with  the  habits  of  the 
people,  which  were  to  me  always  interesting  and 
amusing. 

The  elections  were  then  held  on  the  first  Monday  in 
August,  and  although  a  voter,  I  attended  an  election  held 
at  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Wood,  south  of  where  Woodburn 
now  is. 

There  were  three  judges  and  two  clerks  of  election, 
and  the  method  of  voting  was  viva  voce.  One  of  the 
qualifications  required  of  a  voter  was  residence  in  the 
state  for  six  months  previous  to  an  election.  I  remember 
that  a  man  named  Hoskins,  whom  I  had  not  seen  be- 


REMOVAL  TO  ILLINOIS  IN  1831.  21 

fore,  offered  to  vote,  and  when  asked  how  long  he  had 
lived  in  the  state,  said  he  came  here  in  the  month  of 
April  previous, 

The  senior  judge,  after  telling  him  he  had  not  been  in 
the  state  long  enough,  hesitated  a  moment,  then  asked  if 
he  had  "had  the  chills."  He  answered,  "Yes  ;  I  had  one 
yesterday,  and  feel  one  coming  on  me  now."  The  judge 
said,  "put  him  down,  and  let  him  go  home,  the  chills  is 
as  good  as  a  six  month's  residence  !"  His  vote  was  re- 
corded. 

It  may  be  well  enough  to  say,  by  way  of  apology  for 
the  judges,  that  there  was  a  large  bottle  of  whisky  on 
the  table,  of  which  they  had  partaken  liberally.  Ac- 
cepting the  rule  adopted  by  the  judges,  I  supposed  for 
several  years  that  "having  the  chills"  was  equivalent  to 
a  six  month's  residence  in  the  state. 

In  September,  I  returned  to  Upper  Alton,  where  I 
spent  most  of  the  winter  in  school,  working  in  payment 
of  my  board,  in  the  family  of  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Rodgers, 
a  Baptist  preacher  who  had  lately  come  into  the  state 
from  Missouri. 

Mr.  Rodgers  was  an  Englishman  by  birth,  and  the 
father  of  my  friend  Colonel  Andrew  Fuller  Rodgers, 
formerly  of  the  80th  Illinois  Infantry. 


22  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER    III. 

Engaged  in  selling  clocks — Mob  in  Griggsville — First  meeting  with 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  and  John  T.  Stuart — Journey  to  St.  Louis- 
Arrival  at  Carlinville. 

In  May,  1837,  I  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  C. 
N.  Henderson  of  New  Hartford,  Conn.,  who  was  largely 
engaged  in  the  business  of  selling  clocks,  and  had  ar- 
rangements for  showing  them  easily.  Four  men  who 
during  the  winter  before  boarded  in  the  house  I  did 
were  engaged  in  the  practical  business  of  peddling  the 
clocks.  The  methods  of  the  business  were  that  a  license 
would  be  taken  out  by  him  in  some  one  county  for  the 
term  of  three  months,  which  cost  him  fifty  dollars,  and 
then  he  put  as  many  men  and  teams  into  the  county  as 
were  sufficient  to  visit  and  canvass  all  parts  of  the 
county  for  the  sale  of  brass  and  wooden  clocks. 

After  engaging  with  Mr.  Henderson,  I  with  three 
other  employes  and  all  of  the  wagons  left  Upper  Alton 
by  way  of  "Waverly  and  Springfield,  passed  Petersburg 
and  Ross'  ferry  (now  Havana)  and  reached  Lewistown 
in  Fulton  county,  where  we  operated  for  three  months. 
It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  delightful  life  than  I 
led  while  engaged  in  this  business. 

The  country  was  new  and  sparcely  settled,  the  people 
were  immigrants  into  the  state,  they  were  simple  in 
their  habits  and  hospitable  to  a  degree  that  cannot  be 
imagined  by  the  people  of  the  present  day. 

Business  was  reasonably  good,  and  everything  in- 
dicated life  and  thrift  in  all  the  counties  we  visited. 
My  first  three  months  were  spent  in  Fulton  county, 
from  that  to  Pike,  where  I  made  some  valuable  friends  ; 
thence  to  Greene,  and  after  that  to  Hancock,  I  was  at 
Griggsville,  Pike  county,  in  October,  1837.  One  day 
when  I  was  absent  from  the  town,  I  came  into  my  board- 


MOB  IN  GRIGGSVILLE.  23 

ing  house  after  dark.  Soon  after  a  number  of  persons 
came  into  the  public  room,  and  I  learned  that  during  the 
evening  a  stranger  had  lectured  upon  the  subject  of 
slavery  and  had  asked  his  audience  to  sign  a  petition  to 
congress  to  prohibit  the  slave  trade  between  the  states 
and  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

I  would  probably  have  signed  the  petition  if  I  had 
been  present  at  the  meeting,  but  as  it  was  I  listened  to 
a  very  sharp  discussion  between  James  A.  McDougall, 
afterwards  attorney-general  of  the  State  of  Illinois  and 
senator  from  California,  and  a  lawyer  named  John  P. 
Jordan,  both  of  whom  lived  in  Griggsville  ;  one  of  them 
had  come  into  the  state  from  New  York  and  the  other 
from  Virginia. 

Mr.  McDougall  insisted  upon  the  right  of  every  citizen 
to  petition  congress  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  to  prohibit  the  interstate  slave  trade, 
while  Jordan  argued  that  as  congress  had  no  right  to  do 
either,  no  citizen  had  a  right  to  petition  that  either 
should  be  done.  I  went  to  bed  leaving  them  in  the 
midst  of  the  dispute  ;  I  slept  late,  but  when  I  came  from 
my  room  I  saw  that  the  street  in  front  of  the  hotel  was 
crowded  with  people,  and  across  the  street  a  number  of 
persons  were  kicking  at  and  striking  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Trumbull,  and  was  then  told  that  several  men  had 
followed  the  stranger  who  had  lectured  the  night  before, 
pulled  him  off  his  horse  and  had  taken  his  petition  from 
him,  and  were  then  pursuing  every  man  who  had  signed 
it  to  compel  him  to  take  his  name  off  the  paper. 

I  left  the  town  soon  after  in  pursuit  of  my  business, 
returned  in  the  afternoon  about  four  o'clock,  found  the 
streets  full  of  people,  and  learned  that  they  had  driven 
Mr.  Ozias  M.  Hatch,  afterwards  secretary  of  the  State 
of  Illinois,  into  the  belfry  of  the  Baptist  Church,  in 
which  he  took  refuge  to  avoid  the  mob,  and  that  they 
were  still  in  pursuit  of  others  who  had  signed  the  peti- 
tion. I  was  on  the  street  but  a  short  time  when  a  man 
named  Pollock  came  running  pursued  by  a  mob ;  I 


24  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

hated  mobs  then  as  I  do  now,  but  at  the  time  I  only  in- 
sisted that  Pollock  should  have  what  was  then  called  a 
"fair  fight."  I  had  in  my  pocket  a  steel-barrel  rifled 
pistol,  I  offered  it  to  him,  but  to  the  honor  of  the  crowd 
my  idea  of  a  "fair  fight,"  "man  to  man,"  was  accepted, 
and  the  affair  ended  for  the  moment,  to  be  revived  upon 
the  appearance  of  some  other  obnoxious  person. 

The  town  was  under  the  control  of  the  mob  several 
days.  Love  joy  was  killed  on  November  7th  following, 
which  greatly  added  to  the  excitement.  The  local  au- 
thorities were,  as  usual,  overawed  by  the  mob  spirit,  and 
did  nothing  to  preserve  the  public  peace. 

In  Hancock  county,  I  met  for  the  first  time  Stephen 
A.  Douglas.  One  night,  after  Mr.  Sands  N.  Breed,  who 
was  employed  with  me,  and  I  had  retired  (we  occupied 
separate  beds  in  the  same  room),  the  landlord,  Mr. 
Swope,  came  to  our  room,  accompanied  by  two  gentle- 
men, who  were  introduced  to  us  as  "Mr.  Stuart  and 
Mr.  Douglas,  opposing  candidates  for  Congress."  The 
landlord  called  us  by  name,  and  informed  us  that  we 
would  have  to  occupy  the  same  bed.  Douglas  then 
asked  our  politics,  and  Mr.  Breed  told  him  that  he 
was  a  Whig,  and  that  I  was  a  Democrat.  Douglas  re- 
plied, "I  will  sleep  with  the  Democrat,  and  Stuart 
may  sleep  with  the  Whig."  The  arrangement  suited 
all  parties.  I  heard  Douglas  speak  next  day,  and 
though  not  quite  twenty-one  years  old  voted  for  him  on 
the  first  Monday  in  August  following.  He  had  no  more 
devoted  adherent  than  myself  until  we  separated  in 
1854  over  the  Nebraska  bill. 

From  Hancock  we  went  to  Knox  county,  and  remained 
there  until  Mr.  Henderson  closed  out  his  business  in  Il- 
linois, and  returned  to  Connecticut 

We  made  our  headquarters  in  Fulton  county,  and  about 
December  1,  1838,  I  took  a  school  for  three  months, 
which  closed  about  March  1,  1839,  when  I  determined 
to  visit  my  father,  who  lived  in  Madison  county,  and 
my  eldest  brother,  who  was  married  and  lived  in  Car- 


MOB  IN  GRIGGSVILLE.  25 

linville,  as  pastor  of  tlie  Baptist  Church.  I  took  pass- 
age at  Utica  for  St.  Louis  on  the  famous  steamboat  then 
well  known  on  the  Illinois  river  as  the  "Ark." 

This  was  my  first  experience  in  river  travel,  and  I  was 
impressed  by  the  novelty  of  the  trip  and  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  boat,  as  it  appeared  to  me  then  ;  but  my  sub- 
sequent observation  taught  me  that  it  was  a  miserable 
1  "tub,"  as  compared  with  other  boats  upon  the  river. 

"We  spent  two  nights,  and  the  whole  of  one  and  part 
of  another  day,  and  reached  St.  Louis  the  third  day.  I 
went  to  the  "Green  Tree  Tavern,"  as  it  was  then  de- 
scribed ;  I  spent  the  night  and  next  morning  there, 
started  on  foot,  and  reached  Edwardsville  after  a  walk 
of  some  twenty  miles,  spent  the  night  there,  and  next 
morning  went  to  my  father's  house  on  Paddock's  Prairie, 
arriving  there  after  a  further  walk  of  eight  miles,  car- 
rying my  belongings  with  me.  On  March  26, 1839, 1  ar- 
rived at  Carlinville,  Macoupin  county,  where  I  afterwards 
spent  so  many  years  of  my  life,  and  formed  many  valu- 
able and  enduring  friendships  and  entered  into  relations 
of  the  most  interesting  and  affecting  character. 

It  was  then  a  place  of  about  four  hundred  inhabitants, 
and  was  a  rough  specimen  of  an  Illinois  town.  I  reached 
Carlinville  on  a  Saturday  about  noon ;  my  brother,  Rev. 
Elihu  J.  Palmer  (whom  I  have  mentioned)  had  mar- 
ried a  year  or  two  before  Miss  Eliza  Gordon,  of  Ed- 
wardsville. He  lived  in  Carlinville,  and  had  charge  of 
the  Baptist  Church  at  that  place.  He  was  poor,  and  so 
was  his  congregation,  but  his  and  their  wants  were  few 
and  simple.  My  own  capital  was  entirely  satisfactory  to 
me  ;  I  had  twelve  dollars  in  money,  a  few  extra  clothes, 
a  rifle  gun,  which  I  had  left  in  Fulton  county,  and  a 
silver  watch,  which  was  of  uncertain  value.  When  I 
left  my  father  in  Madison  county,  I  intended  to  go  to 
Bloomington.  I  knew  that  many  of  my  father's  old 
friends  and  neighbors  of  his  in  Kentucky  had  settled  in 
McLean  and  Tazewell  counties,  and  I  promised  myself 
that  I  would  be  able  to  make  up  a  school  amongst  them, 


26  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

and  continue  my  law  studies.  My  brother  was  not  at 
home  when  I  readied  Carlinville,  having  gone  some 
days  before  to  attend  a  religious  meeting  at  a  distance. 
He  returned,  however,  on  Monday  afternoon,  and  per- 
suaded me  that  Carlinville  had  advantages  for  me  that 
I  could  find  at  no  other  place.  He  proposed  that  I 
should  make  my  home  with  him,  assist  in  the  neces- 
sary work,  which  included  the  chopping  of  firewood 
where  it  grew,  assist  in  hauling  it  to  the  house,  which 
we  did  generally  with  a  borrowed  team,  and  cutting  it 
into  lengths  for  the  fire-place. 

I  accepted  his  offer,  and  we  lived  very  happily  until 
in  the  fall  of  that  year  he  removed  from  the  town.  After 
my  brother  moved  away,  I  got  excellent  board  at  one 
dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  week,  washing  included. 
The  washing  involved  no  great  labor,  for  two  extra 
shirts,  made  of  what  we  called  "domestic,"  with  col- 
lars of  the  same  material  as  a  part  of  the  garment,  left 
the  laundry  labor  very  light. 


ADMITTED  TO  THE  BAR.  27 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Read  law  with  Mr.  Greathouse — Candidate  for  county  clerk — Admitted 
to  the  bar — Public  men  of  the  day — First  case  in  the  Circuit  Court 
Kindness  of  Judge  Breese — Methods  of  study. 

I  entered  the  office  of  Mr.  John  S.  Greathouse,  who 
was  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  town,  and  "Coke 
on  Littleton,"  with  Hargrave  and  Butler  notes,  were 
placed  in  my  hands  for  a  beginning  of  my  studies.  I 
had  read  Blackstone's  Commentaries  much  as  every 
student  reads  that  excellent  and  learned  work  the  first 
time.  It  will  be  interesting  to  students  of  the  present 
day,  when  law  books  are  so  multiplied,  that  general 
treatises  on  every  subject  are  to  be  found  in  the  book- 
stores, as  special  works  on  all  important  subdivisions  of 
the  law,  and  federal,  state  and  English  reports  are  found 
in  law  libraries  by  the  thousand,  that  the  reports  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  at  that  time  were  contained  in 
one  volume,  "Breese." 

My  preceptor,  Mr.  Greathouse,  who  was  a  well-read 
lawyer,  had  in  his  office  a  few  volumes  of  English  re- 
ports, Coke,  Raymond,  Buller's  Nisi  Prius,  Starkey  and 
McNally  on  Evidence  and  Chitty's  Pleadings,  then  a 
comparatively  new  work  ;  the  copy  I  used  as  a  student  I 
have  now.  It  descended  to  Tevis  Greathouse  on  the 
death  of  his  father,  Mr.  John  S.  Greathouse,  and  was 
bought  at  the  sale  of  his  property  by  Judge  Jacob  Fouke, 
and  presented  by  him  to  me.  I  have  a  few  of  these  old 
books  still,  but  some  of  the  most  ancient  and  rare  have 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  "filchers"  of  rare  books, 
who  have  always  looted  careless  collectors.  It  may  be 
useful  to  students  to  state  for  their  benefit  my  methods 
of  study. 

I  read  carefully,  with  a  glossary  of  law  terms,  and 
made  full  notes.  I  did  not  in  my  notes,  as  a  rule, 


28  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

merely  quote  the  language  of  the  authors  I  read,  but  my 
effort  was  to  grasp  the  subject  and  state  it  in  my  own  lan- 
guage ;  my  conception  of  the  meaning  of  what  I  read 
was  often  inaccurate,  but  I  think  on  the  whole  the 
method  I  adopted  was  preferable  to  any  other.  It  pro- 
moted brevity  and  terseness,  and  aided  systematizing 
the  knowledge  acquired ;  and  I  think  my  experience 
justifies  me  in  saying  that  knowledge  of  the  law,  ac- 
quired by  this  method,  is  much  longer  retained  and  more 
easily  and  intelligently  applied  to  practical  use,  than  it 
can  be  when  the  student  merely  masters  words  of  his 
author  or  instructor.  I  may  add  here,  for  I  will  probably 
not  return  to  the  subject,  that  it  is  essential  to  a  success- 
ful study  of  the  law  that  the  student  should  master  the  his- 
tory of  the  people  with  whom  laws  originate.  Laws  are 
but  expressions  of  the  feelings,  habits  and  necessities  of 
mankind,  and  can  only  be  understood  by  a  thorough 
familiarity  with  their  history,  and  of  their  applications 
and  uses.  I  read  English  history  and  Reeves'  History 
of  the  English  Law  with  great  profit. 

I  was  aided  in  my  studies  by  that  great  promoter  of 
diligence,  poverty.  I  was  compelled  to  earn  something, 
and  as  there  were  some  sales  of  land,  and  the  volumes 
of  the  records  were  few,  I  examined  titles  and  prepared 
deeds,  and  soon  found  some  employment  before  justices 
of  the  peace. 

It  was  not  long  before  I  found  myself  able  to  meet  my 
expenses  which,  with  board  at  one  dollar  and  a  quarter 
a  week,  did  not  exceed  $100  a  year.  The  only  interrup- 
tion of  my  studies  was,  that  my  political  friends  insisted 
that  I  should  become  a  candidate  for  county  clerk,  in 
opposition  to  John  A.  Chestnut,  Esq.,  of  this  city 
(Springfield)  ,  now  deceased,  and  who  has  been  my  per- 
sonal friend  for  more  than  fifty  years. 

Mr.  Chestnut  was  then  the  clerk,  and  a  candidate  for 
re-election.  He  was  well  qualified  for  the  discharge  of 
the  duties  of  the  office,  and  was  deservedly  popular. 
He  was  a  Whig,  and  I  know  that  the  leaders  of  my 


ADMITTED  TO  THE  BAR.  29 

party,  when  they  insisted  upon  my  candidacy  in  1839, 
had  no  expectation  of  my  success,  but  they  desired  to 
find  employment  for  Mr.  Chestnut,  and  preserve  the 
party  organization. 

The  election  was  then  held  on  the  first  Monday  in 
August ;  we  commenced  the  canvass  in  May  ;  I  had  no 
money  and  needed  none,  for  the  candidates  were  wel- 
comed to  the  hospitalities  of  the  people. 

I  borrowed  a  young  and  partially  "broke"  horse,  and 
rode  over  the  country  from  house  to  house. 

Public  meetings  were  held  in  the  few  villages  in  the 
county,  and  all  the  candidates  were  expected  to  make 
"speeches,"  and  sometimes  a  popular  party  leader,  who 
was  not  then  a  candidate  for  office,  would  address  the 
people. 

The  apology  for  the  appearance  of  non-candidates  be- 
fore the  people  was  the  necessity  for  defending  them- 
selves from  some  personal  charge  or  charges,  though  it 
was  generally  supposed  the  real  object  was  to  rally  the 
parties. 

I  remember  that  a  meeting  at  Stanton,  one  of  the  vil- 
lages in  the  county  which  was  called  to  hear  the  candi- 
dates, was  addressed  by  General  John  Harris,  who  was 
a  brigadier-general  in  the  state  militia,  and  had  been 
sheriff,  was  then  a  representative  and  afterwards  a  state 
senator. 

He  apologized  for  speaking  by  saying  the  Whigs  had 
invented  and  were  circulating  a  charge  against  him 
that  he  had  "stolen  a  house;"  he  explained  the  trans- 
action from  which  the  charge  had  originated,  read  cer- 
tificates from  men  in  his  neighborhood  to  support  his 
explanation,  and  was  fully  acquitted  in  the  judgment  of 
his  friends. 

He  was  followed  by  the  candidates  according  to  some 
theory  of  the  relative  dignity  of  the  office  to  which  they 
aspired.  I  made  a  speech,  defended  myself  against 
some  charges  which  were  made  against  me — I  have  for- 
gotten what  they  were — and  Mr.  Chestnut,  who  was  an 


80  THE  STORY  OF  AN  HONEST  LIFE. 

agreeable,  fluent  speaker,  edified  the  people.  There 
were  charges  against  him,  too,  I  think.  He  defended 
himself  successfully  as  it  seemed  to  me. 

"When  the  election  came  off,  he  defeated  me  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty  majority,  but  the  other  Democratic 
candidates  were  elected. 

My  canvass  made  me  acquainted  over  the  county,  and 
at  the  same  time  I  acquired  many  sincere  and  useful 
friends. 

I  pursued  my  studies  with  great  industry,  and  made 
some  progress  in  the  acquisition  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  mysteries  of  the  law,  so  that,  in  December, 
1839,  I  borrowed  five  dollars  from  a  friend  to  pay 
my  expenses,  and  as  Mr.  Greathouse  was  going  to 
Springfield  in  his  own  carriage,  he  invited  me  to  ride 
with  him,  which  I  did. 

We  started  late  in  the  day,  and  reached  Auburn,  a 
mile  or  two  west  of  the  present  town  of  Auburn,  which 
is  on  the  railroad,  and  stayed  at  a  public  house  kept  by 
a  Mr.  Eastman,  father  of  the  late  Mr.  Asa  Eastman,  of 
this  city.  I  remember  that  my  share  of  the  night's  ex- 
penses was  twenty-five  cents,  and  the  bill  of  Mr.  Great- 
house,  for  himself  and  horse,  was  fifty  cents.  We 
reached  Springfield  about  noon  the  next  day,  and  "put 
up"  at  the  "Globe  Hotel,"  "Inn"  or  whatever  was  the 
title  of  public  houses  then.  "The  Globe"  was  kept  by 
Colonel  Spottswood,  who,  I  soon  learned,  was  a  Virginia 
gentleman  of  the  old  school. 

I  met  Mr.  Douglas  soon  after  reaching  the  city ;  told 
him  my  business  was  to  obtain  a  license  to  practice  law. 
He,  with  that  cheerful  kindness  which  always  charac- 
terized him  and  made  him  so  popular,  with  young  men 
particularly,  made  my  application  for  admission  ;  had 
himself  and  the  late  J.  Y.  Scammon  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  examine  me  touching  my  qualifications  to  prac- 
tice law.  He  invited  me  to  his  room  for  examination, 
where  I  met  Mr.  Scammon. 

The  committee  treated  me  with  great  kindness,  and 


^ST^r  &&^ 


0£t4^y.     -f~. 

g^-t^rtZt^^r^ 


EX 


ADMITTED  TO  THE  BAR.  31 

made  a  favorable  report.  Mr.  Douglas  drew  the  license 
and  made  the  motion  for  admission.  The  license  was 
signed  by  two  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  Judges 
Smith  and  Browne.  I  took  the  prescribed  oath  and 
signed  the  roll,  and  was  then  a  lawyer,  lacking  nothing 
but  learning,  experience  and  clients !  I  had  money 
enough  to  pay  my  hotel  bills  before  leaving  Spring- 
field, and  I  took  "no  thought  for  the  morrow." 

The  legislature  was  then  in  session  in  Springfield, 
and  the  city  was  filled  with  strangers,  including  most 
of  the  public  men  in  the  state.  I  here  saw,  for  the  first 
time,  Lincoln,  Baker,  Calhoun,  Field,  Browning  and 
others,  who  were  the  party  leaders  of  the  day. 

In  the  evening,  after  my  arrival  in  Springfield,  I  at- 
tended a  public  meeting  held  in  the  Second  Presby- 
terian meeting-house,  which  was  then  used  by  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  listened  to  speeches  from  Alex. 
P.  Field,  John  Calhoun,  then  of  Springfield,  0.  H. 
Browning  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  Field's  speech 
was  an  eloquent  and  most  bitter  arraignment  of  The- 
ophiles  W.  Smith,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  Judge  Smith  had  held,  in  opposition  to  the 
other  members  of  the  court,  that  the  secretary  of  state 
was  subject  to  removal  by  the  governor. 

Field  was  secretary  of  state,  and  possessed  a  marvel- 
ous capacity  for  invectives,  which  he  used  unsparingly  ; 
Calhoun  defended  the  judge  with  great  dignity  and 
force  ;  Browning  took  sides  with  Field,  and  delivered  a 
most  eloquent  and  attractive  argument.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  Douglas  with  characteristic  ability.  Dis- 
cussions of  this  character  were  kept  up  night  after 
night  by  Lincoln,  Isaac  P.  "Walker,  then  a  member  of 
the  legislature  from  Vermillion  county  and  afterwards 
United  States  senator  for  Wisconsin,  and  others. 
"There  were  giants  in  those  days."  Not  one  of  these 
great  leaders  is  now  living.  Field  died  in  New  Orleans  ; 
Walker,  in  Wisconsin  ;  Calhoun,  in  Kansas. 

Mr.  Greathouse,  who  had  business  before  the  Supreme 


32  THE  STORY   OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Court,  stayed  a  day  or  two  longer  in  Springfield,  and 
when  he  was  ready  we  left  Springfield  early  in  the 
morning  and  reached  Carlinville  before  night,  a  distance 
of  thirty-eight  miles ;  the  roads  were  good.  The  next 
two  or  three  weeks  were  to  me  the  most  wretched  of  my 
life  ;  I  had  no  money,  I  was  in  debt  for  a  month's 
board,  I  had  no  business  and  no  prospect  of  getting  any  ; 
my  landlord  was  a  generous  fellow,  but  was  nearly  as 
poor  as  I  was  ;  he  was  in  debt  and  needed  money  badly. 
I  still  used  Mr.  Greathouse's  office,  I  had  no  difficulty 
in  obtaining  firewood  for  the  office,  for  I  could  cut  on 
congress  land  and  pay  half  for  hauling,  but  when  I  went 
to  one  of  the  stores  to  buy  candles,  which  were  twenty- 
five  cents  a  pound,  I  was  refused  credit.  After  about 
two  weeks  of  this  life  I  tried  a  case  before  a  justice 
of  the  peace  in  Carlinville  and  got  a  fee  of  two  dollars 
and  a  half,  I  paid  two  dollars  of  this  to  my  poor  land- 
lord, Allison. 

During  the  first  week  in  January  I  traveled  about 
twelve  miles  to  the  head  of  Cahokia  creek  and  tried  a 
suit,  for  which  I  received  five  dollars :  after  paying 
Allison  three  dollars  of  this  and  fifty  cents  for  the  horse, 
I  took  courage  and  started  on  foot  to  Edwardsville  to 
attend  the  circuit  court  of  Madison  county,  which  was 
then  in  session ;  Judge  Sidney  Breese,  afterwards  so 
distinguished  in  the  political  and  judicial  history  of  the 
state,  presiding.  It  is  thirty-five  miles  from  Carlinville 
to  Edwardsville  ;  I  walked  the  first  day  from  Carlinville 
to  my  father's,  he  lived  near  the  road,  ten  miles  from 
Edwardsville.  I  spent  the  day  with  my  father  and  the 
following  morning  went  to  Edwardsville,  stopped  at  a 
public  house  kept  by  a  man  named  Wilson  with  whom 
I  had  a  friendly  acquaintance  ;  I  explained  to  Mr.  Wil- 
son that  I  had  no  money  to  pay  bills,  when  without 
waiting  to  hear  more  he  told  me,  with  a  rough  gener- 
osity I  shall  never  forget,  that  I  should  stay  with  him 
as  long  as  I  pleased,  pay  him  what  I  could  and  if  I 
never  could  "it  didn't  made  a  d — d  bit  of  difference." 


ADMITTED  TO  THE  BAR.  33 

It  can  well  be  imagined  that  after  this  reception  I  felt 
at  home.  I  had  known  Judge  Breese  when  I  was 
a  boy,  and  the  first  law  speech  I  ever  heard  was  made  by 
him. 

He  met  and  remembered  me  kindly,  and  soon  after 
assigned  me  to  the  defense  of  a  poor  fellow  who  was  in- 
dicted for  larceny  ;  I  have  often  repeated  the  incidents  of 
this  trial  and  the  conduct  of  Judge  Breese  toward  me,  to 
illustrate  the  wisdom  of  judges  who  treat  young  mem- 
bers of  the  bar  with  kindness. 

Any  lawyer  may  easily  guess  the  character  of  the  de- 
fense I  made  for  this,  my  first,  client.  I  had  never  be- 
fore appeared  in  the  circuit  court ;  my  client  was  un- 
questionably guilty,  and  the  jury  so  found  after  very 
brief  hesitation.  After  the  jury  had  found  him  guilty 
I  remembered  that  "according  to  the  books,"  after  a 
verdict  against  his  client,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  lawyer 
to  make  a  motion  for  a  new  trial,  and  if  that  motion 
failed  then  to  move  in  arrest  of  judgment ;  accordingly  I 
made  a  motion  for  a  new  trial  for  the  usual  formal 
reasons. 

I  know  I  attempted  to  argue  the  motion,  and  although 
at  the  time  I  was  so  embarrassed  by  the  surroundings 
that  I  then  scarcely  understood  what  I  said,  I  was  satis- 
fied soon  afterwards  when  I  heard  from  the  judge  that 
I  made  a  most  learned  and  forcible  argument. 

When  I  had  concluded  my  speech,  whatever  it  was, 
I  was  confused  enough,  but  when  Mr.  Kitchell,  the  then 
attorney-general,  finished  his  caustic  and  almost  con- 
temptuous reply,  I  was  overwhelmed  with  confusion. 

The  judge,  however,  rescued  me ;  he  noticed  the 
reasons  I  had  assigned  in  writing  for  a  new  trial  in 
succession,  and  said  that  the  learned  counsel  had  sup- 
ported these  reasons  with  great  force  of  argument. 

He  stated  what  he  said  were  the  arguments  I  had  used, 
confessed  he  was  impressed  with  their  force,  and  then 
proceeded  to  answer  them  with  great  deliberation,  and 
3 


34  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

concluded  by  saying  that  the  defendant  had  been  ably 
defended  by  learned  counsel  and  tried  by  an  intelligent 
and  impartial  jury,  and  that  he  therefore  felt  con- 
strained to  overrule  the  motion  for  a  new  trial  and 
render  a  judgment  on  the  verdict. 

I  did  not  make  a  motion  in  arrest  of  judgment,  but  I 
will  confess  that,  for  awhile  after  the  judge  had  con- 
cluded, I  believed  I  had  really  used  the  arguments  that 
he  attributed  to  me,  and  then  repeated  and  answered, 
and,  though  I  afterwards  realized  that  both  the  argu- 
ments and  the  answers  to  them  were  the  work  of  the 
judge,  he  made  an  impression  upon  me  that  still  remains, 
and  secured  for  himself  my  best  personal  services  as  long 
as  he  had  occasion  for  them,  and  he  left  upon  my  mind  an 
impression  which  I  still  retain — that  Sidney  Breese  was 
in  all  respects  an  ideal  judge  ;  and,  in  view  of  his  inapt- 
ness  as  a  politician,  I  have  been  inclined  to  repeat  what 
Dryden  says  of  Shaftesbury : 

"  In  Israel's  courts,  ne'er  sat  an  Abeth-din 
With  more  discerning  eyes,  or  hands  more  clean, 
Unbribed,  unsought,  the  wretched  to  redress, 
Swift  of  despatch,  and  easy  of  access. 
O,  had  he  been  content  to  serve  the  crown 
With  virtues,  only  proper  to  the  gown ; 
Or,  had  the  rankness  of  the  soil  been  freed 
From  cockle  that  oppressed  the  noble  seed, 
David,  for  him,  his  tuneful  harp  had  strung 
And  Heaven  had  wanted  one  immortal  song." 

The  judge  was,  for  some  reasons,  a  failure  as  a  poli- 
tician, but  his  preeminence  as  a  judge  has  never  been 
disputed. 

In  the  May  following  my  admission  to  the  bar,  a  term 
of  the  circuit  court  was  held  in  Macoupin  county,  and  I 
was  appointed,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Chestnut,  and 
a  lawyer  by  the  name  of  Fiske,  who  lived  at  Hillsboro, 
to  defend  Aaron  and  William  Todd,  brothers,  who  were 
indicted  for  the  murder  of  their  cousin,  Larkin  Scott. 

This  murder  was  so  remarkable  in  its  circumstances 
that  it  excited  the  greatest  horror  in  the  minds  of  the 


ADMITTED  TO  THE  BAR.  35 

people,  who,  though  not  unfamiliar  with  violence,  were 
shocked  at  what  was  manifestly  a  cold-blooded,  deliberate 
assassination. 

The  Todds  and  Scott,  their  victim,  lived  in  Indiana, 
and  had  during  the  latter  part  of  the  winter  visited  some 
relatives  in  Illinois.  At  the  time  of  the  murder  they 
were  traveling  on  foot  across  the  then  unsettled  prairie, 
near  the  head  of  Sugar  creek,  along  the  road  from  Jack- 
sonville to  Hillsboro. 

At  a  point  several  miles  distant  from  any  house,  Scott 
was  killed,  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  conceal  the  body, 
which  was  found  after  some  days.  The  men  in  the 
neighborhood  in  which  the  body  was  found  ascertained, 
at  the  house  where  the  parties  had  spent  the  night  be- 
fore the  murder,  the  name  of  the  man  killed,  as  well  as 
the  name  of  his  companions.  They  had  told  the  people 
of  the  house  where  they  lived  and  to  what  point  they 
were  traveling.  A  pursuing  party  overtook  the  Todds 
before  they  reached  their  destination  ;  they  were  brought 
back  to  Carlinville  and  committed  to  jail.  Before  the 
trial,  Aaron  Todd,  the  elder  of  the  brothers,  confessed 
the  killing,  and  exonerated  William. 

The  result  of  the  trial  was  that  Aaron  was  convicted, 
and  afterwards  hung ;  William  was  acquitted. 

It  is  probable  that  the  brothers  killed  the  poor  man  to 
get  possession  of  a  few  dollars  (sixteen,  it  was  said) , 
and  that  Aaron  took  upon  himself  the  entire  responsi- 
bility of  the  murder  in  order  to  shield  his  brother. 
Such  was  his  statement  after  William  had  been  ac- 
quitted and  hastily  left  Carlinville,  manifesting  no 
further  interest  in  the  fate  of  Aaron. 

By  this  time  my  business  had  so  increased  that  it  af- 
forded me  means  of  support,  according  to  the  simple 
habits  of  the  times,  and  I  think  I  may  say  that,  from 
that  time  to  the  present,  I  have  never  seen  a  day  when 
I  was  without  employment.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  I 
have  worked  every  day,  but  that,  if  idle,  it  was  not  be- 
cause I  had  not  something  to  do. 


36  THE  STOKY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

Canvass  of  1840 — Impressions  of  Harrison  and  Van  Buren — Disappoint- 
ment of  the  Whig  party — Scale  of  legal  fees  and  prices  of  lands — 
My  marriage  in  1842 — Lawyers  as  politicians — Elected  probate  jus- 
tice of  the  peace  in  1843. 

I  have  now  reached  a  period  at  which  almost  every 
kind  of  business  was  abandoned,  and  the  people  gave 
themselves  up  to  the  excitement  which  attended  the 
memorable  political  canvass  of  1840. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for  the 
presidency,  and  General  "William  Henry  Harrison  was 
the  candidate  of  the  Whigs.  Mr.  Van  Buren,  elected  in 
1836  as  the  favorite  of  General  Jackson,  was  never  pop- 
ular in  the  West  or  South.  General  Jackson  had,  by 
the  vigor  of  his  administration,  his  determined  purpose 
and  efforts  to  crush  out  the  dangerous  heresy  of  nullifica- 
tion given  mortal  offense  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  its  author  and 
champion,  and  his  followers. 

He  had  also  made  enemies  of  the  commercial  classes 
by  his  overthrow  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States.  The 
enemies  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  who  were  also  the  enemies 
of  General  Jackson,  pretended  to  attribute  to  the  advice 
and  management  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  those  acts  of 
General  Jackson,  of  which  they  complained  (commercial 
distress  not  attributable  to  the  financial  policy  of  Jack- 
son or  Van  Buren,  but  to  the  wild  and  unreasonable 
spirit  of  speculation)  ,  which  prevailed  all  over  the  coun- 
try and  especially  in  the  West,  filled  the  minds  of  the 
people  with  the  most  profound  and  widespread  dis- 
content. 

General  Harrison,  too,  had  considerable  military 
reputation  acquired  during  the  then  late  war  in  cam- 
paigns against  the  British  and  the  Indians  in  the  North- 
west. 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  VAN  BUREN  AND  HARRISON.          37 

These  causes  enabled  the  opponents  of  Mr.  Van  Buren 
to  unite  upon  General  Harrison,  whose  amiable  personal 
qualities  and  negative  political  character  repelled  none. 
No  political  contest  in  the  history  of  the  country  was 
characterized  by  more  bitterness  than  that  of  1840. 

Men  of  all  classes  participated  in  the  canvass,  while 
popular  partisan  orators  never  distinguished  themselves 
more.  The  "Whig  party  in  Illinois  at  that  time  contained 
many  men  distinguished  for  eloquence  ;  among  the  most 
eminent  were  Colonel  E.  D.  Baker,  then  a  resident  of 
Springfield  (who  afterwards  distinguished  himself  in 
congress,  representing  in  succession  two  districts  remote 
from  each  other  in  Illinois,  and  afterwards  in  California 
by  his  matchless  funeral  oration  upon  Broderick,  and 
then  as  senator  from  Oregon,  and  who  perished  at  Ball's 
Bluff,  during  the  civil  war,  in  one  of  those  affairs  where 
his  bravery  by  no  means  atoned  for  his  want  of  pru- 
dence) ,  Lincoln,  Browning  and  John  Hogan,  then  a 
Methodist  preacher;  while  Douglas  and  Breese,  Lam- 
born  and  Calhoun,  their  equals,  championed  the  De- 
mocracy. 

The  state  elections  held  in  August  before  the  presi- 
dential election,  then  as  now  held  in  November,  indi- 
cated the  defeat  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  but  did  not  give 
warning  of  the  total  overthrow  of  the  Democratic  party 
which  happened  in  November. 

I  took  part  in  the  canvass  for  Mr.  Van  Buren,  and  be- 
lieved then,  as  I  do  now,  that  he  was  a  great  statesman, 
devoted  to  sound  principles  and  eminently  patriotic. 
The  election  of  General  Harrison  was  soon  after  followed 
by  his  death,  and  the  discordant  elements,  which  had 
united  to  elect  "Tippecanoe  and  Tyler,  too,"  separated, 
never  again  to  be  reunited — their  only  bond  of  union 
was  their  opposition  to  Mr.  Van  Buren.  The  political 
combination  which  placed  Harrison  and  Tyler  upon  the 
same  ticket  had  no  common  principles,  and  the  accession 
of  Tyler  to  the  presidency  destroyed  it. 

The  Whig  party  proper,  which  was  made  up  of  the 


38  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

protectionists,  supporters  of  the  National  Bank,  and  the 
remnants  of  the  Federal  party  (for  the  sake  of  success) , 
abandoned  Mr.  Clay,  its  true  representative  and  leader, 
and  nominated  General  Harrison  for  the  presidency  on 
the  ground  of  mere  availability.  The  selection  of  John 
Tyler  as  a  candidate  for  vice-presidency,  who  was  an 
enemy  of  protection  and  the  banking  system,  an  ultra 
states'  rights  man  and  admirer  and  follower  of  Mr.  Cal- 
houn,  was  the  price  paid  by  the  "Whig  party  in  order  to 
secure  the  cooperation  of  the  southern  leaders. 

This  became  manifest  upon  the  accession  of  Tyler  to 
the  presidency  after  the  death  of  Harrison.  After  a 
violent  struggle  between  the  "Whig  leaders  and  Tyler,  the 
latter  threw  himself  into  the  arms  of  the  Nullifiers, 
called  Mr.  Calhoun  and  other  men  of  uncertain  political 
character  to  his  cabinet,  and  entered  upon  a  line  of 
policy  which  enabled  the  Democratic  party,  by  an  alli- 
ance with  the  southern  leaders  to  carry  the  election  of 
1844,  electing  James  K.  Polk  to  the  presidency,  and  de- 
feating Mr.  Clay,  under  whose  leadership  the  "Whigs  in. 
that  year  attempted  to  rally. 

I  return  from  this  digression  and  continue  my  per- 
sonal narrative.  After  the  election  of  1840,  I  continued 
the  practice  of  my  profession  with  great  industry,  and 
won  a  fair  share  of  the  very  small  amount  of  legal  busi- 
ness that  reached  the  courts. 

The  scale  of  legal  fees  charged  and  collected  by 
lawyers  would  not  be  very  attractive  to  the  profession  of 
to-day.  It  is,  perhaps,  correct  to  say,  that  ten  dollars 
would  be  the  full  average  fee  for  the  trial  of  a  suit  in 
the  circuit  court,  while  two  dollars  and  a  half,  and  five 
dollars,  were  the  amounts  usually  charged  before  a 
justice  of  the  peace.  But  this  mere  statement  of  the 
rates  of  professional  compensation  reflects  very  little 
light  upon  the  actual  state  of  the  business  of  the  country. 
Public  lands  could  still  be  entered  at  the  landoffice  at 
one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  acre  ;  improved 
farms  that  are  now  worth  fifty  dollars  could  then  be 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  VAN  BUREN  AND  HARRISON.          39 

bought  for  five  dollars  an  acre  ;  the  means  of  sustenance 
were  abundant  and  cheap  ;  the  habits  of  the  people  were 
simple  and  inexpensive,  so  that  while  the  comforts  and 
luxuries  of  modern  life  are  now  more  abundant,  the 
people  were  then  far  more  independent  than  they  are  at 
present. 

On  the  twentieth  day  of  December,  1842,  I  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Malinda  Ann  Neely,  daughter  of  Mr.  James 
Neely,  of  Carlinville. 

She  was  born  in  Kentucky,  and  was  very  young  at 
the  time  of  our  marriage,  but  within  a  few  days  after- 
wards we  went  to  housekeeping,  neither  of  us  needing 
any  assistance.  I  had  no  home  for  her,  but  we  found  a 
snug,  hewed-log  house,  which  I  rented  for  four  dollars 
per  month.  It  stood  upon  the  ground  now  occupied  by 
the  magnificent  "Macoupin  Court  House  ;"  her  mother 
gave  her  the  "Illinois  fortune,"  a  feather  bed  and  its 
equipments.  I  had  a  bureau,  which  still  stands  in  my 
home  in  Springfield,  "none  the  worse  for  wear,"  and 
which  I  always  insisted  to  her  was  an  equivalent  for  the 
bed  and  its  furnishings.  A  local  mechanic  made  for  us 
a  walnut  table,  and  with  twenty-five  dollars  worth  of 
the  simple  household  and  kitchen  furniture,  which  was 
common  at  that  time,  a  little  sugar  and  coffee,  some 
flour  and  a  ham,  I,  proud  of  my  new  position,  the  head 

of  the  family, 

"Felt  that  swelling  of  the  heart 
I  ne'er  shall  feel  again." 

She  was  a  true  and  devoted  wife  and  mother,  and  a 
sincere  Christian. 

Ten  children  were  born  to  us,  six  of  whom  survived 
her.  On  May  9,  1885,  she  died  of  that  incurable  disease, 
consumption,  and  sleeps  in  our  little  private  cemetery 
at  Carlinville,  with  the  four  of  our  children  who  pre- 
ceded her. 

When  I  left  home  on  May  15,  1861,  to  assume  com- 
mand of  the  regiment  to  which  I  had  been  elected, 
she  remained  with  five  of  our  children,  all  of  whom 


40  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

needed  her  care,  I  expected  to  return  within  a  few 
months,  at  most.  I  was  only  occasionally  at  home,  but 
my  military  service  ended  by  the  acceptance  of  my 
resignation  as  Major-General  of  Volunteers,  on  Septem- 
ber 1,  1866. 

She  never  failed  in  her  duty  to  our  children,  while  the 
anxieties  she  suffered  on  account  of  her  husband  and  two 
of  her  brothers  who  were  in  the  army,  must  be  left  to 
the  imagination  of  those  who  had  like  experiences.  I 
have  never  doubted  but  that  the  wives  of  soldiers  en- 
dured and  suffered  far  more  than  did  the  soldiers  them- 
selves. 

To  go  back  to  the  period  to  which  I  have  adverted,  it 
ought  to  be  said  that  in  a  new  country,  as  Illinois  was 
then,  lawyers  from  their  relations  to  the  people,  were 
more  or  less  necessarily  politicians  and  office  seekers. 
There  were  then  no  railroads,  telegraphs  or  telephones, 
nor  "the  daily  newspaper,"  which  by  the  railroads  is 
now  delivered  on  the  day  of  its  publication,  at  nearly 
every  postoffice  in  the  state. 

It  was  then  the  habit  of  the  lawyers  to  "go  on  the 
circuit,"  and  some  of  them,  like  Lincoln,  would  follow 
the  judge  and  go  to  all  the  courts  in  the  circuit,  and  as 
all  were  partisans,  the  more  ready  and  ambitious  of  them 
would  on  the  first  day  of  the  term,  at  the  adjournment 
of  the  court  at  noon  or  in  the  evening  after  the  ad- 
journment of  the  court,  make  a  speech  either  assailing 
the  party  opposed  to  him,  or  defending  his  own  party, 
or  both.  Some  orator  would  reply  to  him  on  the  next 
day  or  evening,  and  thus  the  debate  was  kept  up  until 
the  close  of  the  term.  The  terms  of  the  courts  at  that 
time  lasted  but  four  or  five  days,  and  it  was  easy  to  find 
amongst  the  lawyers  in  attendance  speakers  to  fill  up  the 
time. 

The  people  who  attended  the  courts  expected  the 
lawyers  to  speak,  and  such  speeches  afforded  the  only 
political  information  accessible  to  them.  Some  of  the 
lawyers  were  more  indebted  to  their  adroitness  as  po- 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  VAN  BUREN  AND  HARRISON.          41 

litical  speakers  than  to  their  legal  knowledge  for  their 
popularity  at  the  bar. 

In  1843,  I  became  a  candidate  for  an  office,  which  no 
longer  exists,  that  of  "probate  justice  of  the  peace." 
The  office  was  abolished  by  the  constitution  of  1848, 
which  created  county  courts  with  similar  and  more  ex- 
tended jurisdiction.  The  probate  justices  of  the  peace 
were  elected  by  the  legal  voters  of  the  whole  county  for 
the  term  of  four  years ;  they  had  probate  jurisdiction, 
and  had  also  the  civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction  of  ordi- 
nary justices  of  the  peace.  The  probate  justices  were 
their  own  clerks,  and  were  paid  by  fees.  I  was  elected 
by  a  large  majority  of  votes.  During  the  canvass,  I 
made  speeches,  as  did  my  opponent  and  the  candidates  for 
other  county  offices.  I  do  not  remember  the  topics  we 
discussed,  other  than  that  I  was  charged  with  abolition- 
ism, and  defended  myself  by  proving  that  I  was  a  con- 
tributor to  the  "American  Colonization  Society."  I 
kept  no  account  of  the  fees  received  from  this  office,  nor 
of  my  professional  earnings,  but  they  probably  amounted 
to  some  seven  hundred  dollars  per  annum. 

Between  1843  and  1849,  I  bought  a  house  in  Carlin- 
ville  and  three  lots  for  $200.  I  spent  $100  or  more  in 
altering  and  repairing  the  house,  and  purchased  text- 
books and  reports,  and  in  that  way  provided  myself  with 
a  respectable  law  library.  I  mention  the  price  at  which 
I  purchased  the  house  and  three  lots  in  Carlinville  to 
justify  a  statement  which  I  now  make  that  there  never 
was  a  time  in  the  history  of  Illinois  when  the  prices  of 
all  property,  real  and  personal,  were  as  low  as  from  1840 
to  1848 .  Pork  and  beef  were  worth  one  and  a  half  and  two 
cents  a  pound,  horses  were  lower  in  price  than  they  are 
now,  in  this  age  of  electricity,  bicycles  and  horseless  car- 
riages, and  I  remember  that  soon  after  my  marriage  I 
bought  from  an  acquintance  an  excellent  cow  and  her 
calf,  for  which  I  paid  ten  dollars,  and  he  afterwards 
boasted  that  he  beat  me  in  the  transaction,  the  average 
price  of  such  cows  as  I  bought  being  about  eight  dol- 


42  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

lars  ;  common  labor  was  fifty  cents  a  day,  and  plows  and 
harrows  and  other  agricultural  implements  were  made  by 
the  local  mechanics. 

I  was  married  on  the  20th  day  of  December,  1843,  and 
within  a  few  days  thereafter,  I  was  employed  to  attend  a 
suit  before  Squire  Stewart,  who  lived  fourteen  miles  north 
of  Carlinville.  I  hired  a  horse  to  ride  for  fifty  cents  a 
day,  and  appeared  before  the  "squire"  for  my  client. 

My  defense  was  usury.  When  I  reached  the  office  of 
Justice  Stewart,  I  was  confronted  by  a  letter  to  the  jus- 
tice from  Major  P.  H.  Winchester,  an  old  lawyer  in  Car- 
linville, who  had  the  full  confidence  of  the  justice,  in 
which  he  said,  "that  as  there  were  no  pleadings  before 
justices  of  the  peace,  it  could  not  appear  by  the  plead- 
ings that  the  fact  of  usury  was  put  in  issue,  and  de- 
fendant could  not  therefore  become  a  witness." 

I  knew  that  it  would  be  useless  to  argue  to  Justice 
Stewart  that  Major  Winchester  was  wrong,  but  I  knew 
him  to  be  a  conscientious,  honest  man,  so  I  insisted  that 
as  the  statute  gave  the  defense  of  usury,  a  justice,  who 
was  bound  to  give  full  effect  to  the  statute,  ought  to  dis- 
miss the  suit,  in  order  to  give  the  maker  of  the  note  an 
opportunity  to  plead  his  defense,  and  as  the  plaintiff  was 
alive,  to  become  a  witness. 

The  justice  dismissed  the  suit.  I  charged  my  client 
five  dollars,  and  he  asked  me  if  I  "would  take  my  fee 
in  cornmeal?" 

Being  the  head  of  a  family,  but  wholly  ignorant  of 
its  wants,  I  told  him  I  would.  A  few  days  afterwards, 
he  came  to  my  office,  and  told  me  that  he  "would  have 
brought  all  the  meal  he  owed  me  if  he  had  had  barrels 
enough  to  hold  it,  but  as  he  had  only  six  barrels  he  had 
only  brought  eighteen  bushels."  I  went  to  the  house, 
saw  the  cornmeal,  and  told  my  client  that  I  forgave  him 
the  balance  he  owed  me. 

As  my  family  consisted  then  of  myself  and  wife  only, 
it  may  well  be  guessed  that  my  neighbors  profited  by  the 
distribution  of  the  meal. 


CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1847.  43 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Elected  a  delegate  to  convention  of  1847 — Constitutional  provision  in 
regard  to  banks — Provisions  in  regard  to  negroes — Incident  in  re- 
gard to  Revered  Albert  Hale — Investment  of  school  money — In  re- 
gard to  dueling — Township  organization  law. 

On  April  3,  1847,  I  was  elected  a  delegate  to  a  con- 
vention which  was  called  in  pursuance  on  an  "Act  to 
provide  for  the  call  of  a  convention  to  revise  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  State  of  Illinois,"  and  the  convention 
was  required  to  meet  on  the  first  Monday  in  June, 
1847.  The  county  of  Macoupin  was  democratic,  but 
the  people  refused  to  be  controlled  by  mere  partisan 
considerations,  but  elected  Captain  James  Graham  to 
be  my  colleague,  defeating  Benjamin  R.  Barr,  Esq., 
who  was  the  democratic  candidate ;  Lewis  Solomon, 
senior,  was  also  a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the  conven- 
tion, and  received  two  hundred  and  sixty-one  votes,  de- 
feating Mr.  Barr.  The  convention  assembled  on  June 
7,  1847,  and  organized  by  the  election  of  Newton 
Cloud,  of  Morgan  county,  president,  Henry  W.  Moore, 
secretary,  and  John  A.  "Wilson,  sergeant-at-arms. 

Being  in  favor  of  publicity,  I  offered  a  resolution  in- 
viting the  editors  and  reporters  of  the  state  to  seats 
within  the  bar,  which  was  adopted,  and  I  was  assigned 
at  my  own  request  to  the  committee  on  education. 

On  the  10th  day  of  June,  I  offered  a  resolution  proposing 
a  scheme  for  the  re-organization  of  the  judicial  depart- 
ment of  the  state  government.  It  was  in  substance, 
"that  the  judicial  system  of  this  state  shall  be  com- 
posed of  a  supreme  court,  circuit  courts  and  such  in- 
ferior courts  as  shall  be  established  by  law.  That  the 
supreme  court  shall  be  composed  of  not  less  than  three 
nor  more  than  five  judges,  who  shall  be  appointed  by 
the  governor,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 


44  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

senate,  and  shall  hold  their  offices  for  the  term  of  ten 
years,  and  shall  receive  for  their  services  a  compensation 
not  exceeding  twelve  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  and 
shall  be  ineligible  to  any  other  office  for  and  during  the 
term  for  which  they  shall  have  been  elected."  "That 
the  state  shall  be  divided  into  a  convenient  number  of 
judicial  circuits,  and  in  each  of  these  circuits  there  shall 
be  elected  by  the  legal  voters  thereof  a  judge  who  shall 
hold  his  office  for  the  period  of  ten  years,  who  shall  re- 
ceive for  his  services  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars 
per  annum,  and  shall  be  ineligible  to  any  other  office 
for  and  during  the  term  for  which  he  shall  have  been 
elected.  Each  of  which  said  judges  shall  appoint  a 
clerk  of  said  court  in  each  of  the  counties  of  his  cir- 
cuit, who  shall  hold  his  office  for  and  during  the  term 
for  which  said  judge  shall  have  been  elected." 

The  resolutions  expressed  at  the  time  my  ideas  of  the 
proper  organization  of  the  judicial  department  of  the 
state  government,  but  I  am  now  convinced  that  popular 
elections  afford  the  most  satisfactory  method  of  filling 
judicial  places.  At  that  time  the  population  of  the 
state  was  sparse,  its  means  of  communication  imperfect, 
and  while  my  scheme  proposed  the  election  of  circuit 
judges  by  the  people  of  the  circuits  interested,  it  con- 
templated an  appointment  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme 
court  by  the  governor,  subject  to  the  confirmation  by 
the  senate. 

On  June  14,  1847,  Mr.  Markley,  a  delegate  from 
Fulton  county,  offered  a  resolution  that  the  "committee 
on  incorporations  be  and  they  are  hereby  instructed  to 
report  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  prohibiting 
forever  within  this  state  the  incorporation  of  any  bank, 
or  company  for  banking  purposes,  and  the  manufacture 
and  emission  by  any  company,  copartnership,  or  in- 
dividual, of  any  banknote,  or  other  paper,  designed  to 
circulate  as  paper  money." 

Mr.  Pratt  moved  to  amend  the  resolution  offered  by 


CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1847.  45 

Mr.  Markley  by  striking   out   all   after   the  word  "re- 
solved," and  inserting  as  follows  : 

"1.  There  shall  be  no  bank  of  issue  or  of  discount 
within  this  state. 

"2.  The  legislature  shall  not  have  power  to  authorize 
or  incorporate  by  any  general  or  special  law  any  bank 
or  other  institution  having  banking  power,  privileges, 
or  to  confer  upon  any  corporation,  institution,  person  or 
persons  any  banking  power  or  privileges. 

"3.  It  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  corporation,  insti- 
tution, person  or  persons  within  this  state,  under  any 
pretense  or  authority,  to  make  or  issue  any  paper  money, 
note,  bill,  certificate  or  other  evidence  of  debt  intended 
to  circulate  as  money. 

"4.  It  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  corporation  within 
this  state,  under  any  pretense  or  authority  to  exercise 
the  business  of  receiving  deposits  of  money,  making  dis- 
counts or  buying  or  selling  bills  of  exchange,  or  to  do 
any  other  banking  business  whatever. 

"5.  No  bank,  or  agency  of  any  bank,  or  banking  in- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  or  any  other  state  or  terri- 
tory within  or  without  the  United  States,  shall  be  es- 
tablished or  maintained  within  this  state. 

"6.  It  shall  not  be  lawful  to  circulate  in  this  state, 
after  the  year  1848,  any  paper  money,  note,  bill,  certifi- 
cate or  other  evidence  of  debt  whatever,  intended  to  cir- 
culate as  money,  issued  without  this  state,  of  any  de- 
nomination less  than  ten  dollars  ;  after  the  year  of  1850, 
of  any  denomination  less  than  twenty  dollars. 

"7.  All  payments  made,  or  business  transactions  done, 
in  paper  money  in  this  state,  and  coming  within  the 
meaning  of  the  last  section,  are  declared  to  be  utterly 
void,  and  the  legislature  shall  at  its  first  session  after 
the  adoption  of  these  amendments,  and  from  time /  to 
time  thereafter  as  it  may  be  necessary,  enact  adequate 
remedies  for  the  punishment  of  all  violations  and 
evasions  of  the  provisions  of  the  preceding  section." 

Mr.  Laughlin  moved  to  amend  the  amendment  as  fol- 


46  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

lows:  "That  the  legislature  of  this  state  shall  have  no 
power  to  incorporate  any  bank,  or  banks,  or  other 
moneyed  institution,  without  such  act  of  incorporation 
being  first  sanctioned  by  a  direct  vote  of  the  people  of 
this  state." 

I  was  opposed  to  all  banks  of  issue,  and  sought,  as  far 
as  possible,  to  limit  the  circulation  of  bank-bills  in  this 
state,  hence  I  favored  Mr.  Markley's  proposition,  which 
was  simply  to  prohibit  the  creation  of  banks  and  the  cir- 
culation of  all  bank-notes,  and  impose  the  duty  upon  the 
legislature  of  passing  laws  prohibiting  the  emission  of 
any  paper  designed  to  circulate  as  money. 

The  combined  propositions  of  Messrs.  Markley  and  Pratt 
were  never  able  to  command  more  than  fifty -eight  votes. 
In  the  first  instance,  the  several  propositions  were  referred 
to  the  committee  on  corporations,  but  the  subject  con- 
stantly recurred  during  the  session  of  the  convention. 

On  June  24th,  I  addressed  the  convention,  and  said : 
"I  think  the  friends  of  the  banks  ought  to  come  forward 
with  their  propositions.  .  .  .  "We  were  altogether 
on  the  defensive,  .  .  .  the  question  of  banks  was 
the  most  important  one  that  would  come  before  the  con- 
vention, as  it  would  affect  the  future  interest  and  pros- 
perity of  the  state,  and  it  depended  upon  our  resistance 
to  defeat  the  evils  of  the  system :  if  we  were  to  be 
beaten,  and  the  state  was  to  have  banks,  I  would  prefer 
that  the  friends  of  these  institutions  should  prepare  that 
system  which  their  wisdom  and  experience  should  sug- 
gest— if  the  rights  of  the  people  were  to  be  invaded,  let 
it  be  done  by  the  friends  of  the  system." 

In  reply  to  Mr.  Thomas,  I  said:  "I  am  certain  that 
no  one  dares  send  to  the  people  a  system  of  banks  with- 
out many  restrictions." 

"He  stood  there  upon  the  side  of  the  people,  behind  a 
prohibitory  clause  in  the  constitution,  and  while  his 
party  presented  a  perfectly  invulnerable  barrier  to  pro- 
tect the  people  from  any  system  of  banks  or  banking,  the 
other  party  were  compelled  by  their  duty  to  the  people 


CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1847.  47 

of  the  state  to  come  forward  with  a  restrictive  policy, 
something  put  around  the  plan  to  sweeten  the  dose,  and 
showed  that  they  were  unwilling  to  turn  the  monster  un- 
restricted upon  the  people." 

The  convention  finally  adopted  the  views  of  Mr. 
Laughlin,  and  by  the  seventh  section  of  the  10th  article 
of  the  constitution,  made  provision  : 

"1.  That  no  state  bank  shall  hereafter  be  created,  nor 
shall  the  state  own,  or  be  liable  for,  any  stock  in  any  cor- 
poration or  joint  stock  association  for  banking  pur- 
poses hereafter  to  be  created. 

"2.  The  stockholders  in  every  corporation  or  joint 
stock  association  for  banking  purposes,  issuing  bank- 
notes or  any  kind  of  paper  credit  to  circulate  the  money, 
shall  be  individually  responsible  to  the  amount  of  their 
respective  shares  of  stock,  in  any  such  corporation,  or 
association,  for  all  of  its  debts  or  liabilities  of  any  kind. 

"3.  No  act  of  the  general  assembly  authorizing  cor- 
porations or  associations  with  banking  powers  shall  go 
into  effect,  or  in  any  manner  be  in  force,  unless  the  same 
shall  be  submitted  to  the  people  at  the  general  election 
next  succeeding  the  passage  of  the  same,  and  be  ap- 
proved by  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast  at  such  elec- 
tion for  and  against  such  law." 

On  June  25th,  Mr.  Bond,  a  delegate  from  Clinton 
county  offered  a  resolution  directing  the  committee  on 
the  "bill  of  rights"  to  report  a  clause  for  the  new  con- 
stitution, prohibiting  free  negroes  from  hereafter  emi- 
grating to  and  settling  within  the  bounds  of  this  state, 
and  to  prevent  the  owners  of  slaves  in  other  states  from 
bringing  them  into  and  setting  them  free  in  this  state, 
with  such  penalties  as  will  be  calculated  to  effectuate  the 
object  in  view. 

Mr.  Adams,  of  Kane  county,  moved  to  strike  out  all 
after  the  word  "resolved"  and  insert  the  words  "that 
the  legislature  shall  have  no  power  to  pass  laws  of  an 
oppressive  character  applicable  to  persons  of  color." 
Upon  a  motion  to  lay  upon  the  table,  I  voted  with  the 


48  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

majority  opposing  any  provision  in  the  constitution  in 
regard  to  negroes. 

I  said,  in  substance,  "I  thought  the  introduction  of 
this  subject  into  the  convention  was  unwise,  and  would 
be  productive  of  no  good.  Almost  all  the  evil  growing 
out  of  the  excitement  upon  this  question  had  been  pro- 
duced by  persons  occupying  the  extremes  of  both  parties.  , 
On  the  one  side  were  those  who  were  honest,  sincere  ' 
and  consistent  in  their  opinions,  and  men  of  the  most 
respectable  character,  who  devote  all  their  zeal,  ardor 
and  means  for  the  accomplishment  of  their  object,  men 
of  one  idea.  On  the  other  side  was  a  class  of  persons 
who,  to  check  abolition,  use  the  most  violent  language 
and  often  occupied  very  untenable  ground,  and  they  to- 
gether have  contributed  more  than  anything  else  to 
create  the  excitement  on  this  question.  I  would  ask 
gentlemen  to  reflect  upon  the  consequences  of  the  adop- 
tion of  this  provision.  If  it  was  adopted,  and  its  pro- 
visions inserted  in  the  constitution,  a  large  class  of  per- 
sons would  oppose  it.  "Why  then  unnecessarily  provoke 
a  battle  against  the  constitution?  Intemperance  on  the 
one  side  was  as  objectionable  as  on  the  other.  Every 
impulse  of  my  heart  and  every  feeling  is  in  opposition 
to  slavery,  and  if  my  acts  or  votes  here  would  do  any- 
thing to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  those  held  in  bond- 
age, no  man  would  exert  himself  more  zealously  than  I ; 
no  one  would  do  more  to  remove  the  great  stain  of  moral 
guilt  now  upon  this  great  republic  ;  but  I  look  upon  every 
proposition  either  for  or  against  that  object  as  checking 
the  good  work." 

This  speech  was  quoted  on  me  at  "Dry  Fork"  on  elec- 
tion day,  and  resulted  in  the  fact  that  every  vote  (twenty- 
three)  cast  in  the  precinct  was  for  my  opponent,  who 
was  elected  probate  justice  of  the  peace  by  twenty-seven 
majority. 

Early  in  the  session,  the  convention  had  passed  a 
resolution  inviting  the  ministers  of  the  city  of  Spring- 
field to  open  the  convention  with  prayer,  one  of  whom 


CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1847.  49 

was  the  Rev.  Albert  Hale,  who,  from  his  services, 
merited  the  title  so  lovingly  given  him  of  "Bishop  of 
the  Highways  and  Hedges,"  and  who  was  one  of  the 
purest  men  in  the  state. 

Mr.  Akin,  who  had  not  attended  the  service,  offered 
the  following  resolution:  "Whereas,  Mr.  Hale,  in  a 
sermon  on  July  llth,  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church, 
denounced  the  existing  war  with  Mexico  as  being  un- 
just ;  and  whereas,  such  declarations  ought  not  to  be 
tolerated,  more  especially  in  a  republican  government ; 
and  whereas,  it  is  unbecoming  a  minister  of  the  gospel 
to  use  such  language  in  a  gospel  sermon  or  before  the 
young  and  rising  generation ;  therefore,  resolved,  that 
Mr.  Hale  be  excused  from  holding  prayers  in  this  con- 
vention for  the  future." 

A  vote  was  taken,  but  no  quorum  having  voted  upon 
a  motion  to  lay  this  resolution  upon  the  table,  Mr.  Camp- 
bell (of  Jo  Daviess)  moved  that  "Rev.  Mr.  Hale  be  ex- 
cused from  service  as  chaplain  in  this  convention." 
Mr.  Knapp,  of  Scott,  offered  the  following,  that  "this 
convention  highly  appreciates  the  services  of  the  volun- 
teers, both  officers  and  privates,  of  this  state  who 
have  periled  their  lives  in  the  cause  of  our  common 
country  in  the  war  with  Mexico  ;  that  their  fame  is  es- 
tablished upon  an  immovable  basis,  far  above  the  reach 
of  calumny,  having  earned  for  themselves  a  character 
that  needs  no  vindication,  and  which  cannot  be  impaired 
by  detraction."  Mr.  Campbell  moved  to  amend  by 
adding  the  following,  which  was  adopted:  "And  that 
this  convention  highly  deprecate  all  reflections  prejudicial 
to  the  volunteers  coming  from  the  pulpit  or  any  other 
source." 

Mr.  Palmer,  of  Macoupin,  moved  the  following  resolu- 
tion as  a  substitute  for  the  resolution  as  amended : 
"Whereas,  all  men  have  a  natural  and  indefeasible  right 
to  worship  Almighty  God  according  to  the  dictates  of 
their  own  consciences,  and  that  no  human  authority  can, 
4 


50  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

in  any  case  whatever,  control  or  interfere  with  the  rights 
of  conscience  ;  and,  whereas,  liberty  of  speech  is  one  of 
the  invaluable  rights  of  a  free  people,  being  responsible 
to  the  laws  of  the  land  for  any  abuse  thereof  ;  therefore, 
resolved,  that,  while  as  individuals  we  dissent  from 
many  of  the  positions  assumed  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hale,  as 
they  have  been  reported  to  this  convention,  we  disclaim 
all  censorship  over  the  pulpit,  or  of  the  opinions  ex- 
pressed therefrom,  inasmuch  as  such  censorship  is  in 
violation  of  the  rights  of  the  reverend  gentleman,  and 
beyond  our  legitimate  sphere." — Convention  Journal, 
1847,  page  167  et  seq. 

The  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table  by  a  close  vote, 
after  a  debate,  in  which  many  leading  members  of  the 
convention  took  part,  and  the  preamble  was  referred  to 
the  committee  on  the  bill  of  rights,  but  the  controversy 
ended  at  that  point,  all  parties  being  satisfied  that  the 
introduction  of  the  subject  was  unfortunate.  Mr.  Hale, 
on  the  morning  of  Monday,  July  19th,  officiated  at  the 
opening  of  the  convention,  and  as  he  left  the  hall  a  cir- 
cumstance occurred  which  is  sufficiently  explained  by 
the  preamble  to  a  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  Knapp,  of 
Jersey,  which  is  as  follows:  "Whereas,  a  respectable 
minister  of  the  gospel,  whilst  attending  the  convention 
to  open  the  session  by  prayer,  under  a  resolution  of  the 
convention,  has  been  grossly  insulted  and  menaced  with 
bodily  injury  by  a  member  of  the  convention ;  and, 
whereas,  it  is  alike  due  to  the  convention,  and  to  the 
ministers,  that  we  should  not  invite  them  to  perform  that 
duty,  unless  we  could  secure  them  against  such  indigni- 
ties ;"  to  this  preamble  was  added,  that  the  "resolution 
inviting  the  clergymen  of  Springfield  to  open  the  session 
with  prayer,"  be  rescinded,  and  that  the  secretary  be 
instructed  to  inform  said  clergymen  of  the  same,  with 
the  assurance  of  the  convention  that  "this  step  is  not 
adopted  from  any  dissatisfaction  with  the  manner  in 
which  they  have  discharged  their  sacred  duty,  but  solely 
from  an  unwillingness  to  subject  them  to  a  repetition  of 


CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1847.  51 

such  indignities."  Mr.  Aiken  was  the  member  referred 
to  in  Mr.  Knapp's  resolution.  It  is  not  much  to  the 
credit  of  the  convention  that  this  preamble  and  resolution 
were  adopted  without  a  word  of  debate.  I  remember 
my  own  feelings  of  humiliation  when  I  witnessed  their 
adoption,  and  I  saw  in  the  countenances  of  others  that 
their  feeling  was  like  my  own. 

An  attempt  was  subsequently  made  in  the  convention 
to  recover  what  was  lost  by  the  passage  of  Mr.  Knapp's 
preamble  and  resolution,  for,  on  the  26th  of  July,  the 
convention,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Hays,  a  delegate  from 
White  county,  "Resolved,  that  so  much  of  a  preamble 
and  resolution  in  relation  to  the  chaplains  of  this  body 
(which  appears  on  the  Journal  of  Tuesday  last)  assumes 
that  this  convention  is  not  able  and  willing  to  protect 
itself  and  officers  from  interruption  and  insult,  while  in 
the  discharge  of  their  duties,  be  rescinded ;  resolved, 
that  the  president  be  requested  to  open  the  morning 
session  with  prayer  ;"  which  was  adopted  unanimously. 

Mr.  Hale  was  an  extraordinary  man  ;  the  proceedings 
with  reference  to  him  were  made  the  subject  of  news- 
paper comment,  and,  while  he  exhibited  some  emotion, 
he  merely  said  to  me  :  "I  thank  you  ;  I  hope  you  may 
live  to  be  useful." 

Controversies  in  regard  to  the  chairmanship  of  the 
committee  on  education,  or  the  leadership  of  that  com- 
mittee, between  Mr.  Campbell,  of  Jo  Daviess,  and  Mr. 
Edwards,  of  Madison,  made  it  my  duty  to  prepare  a  re- 
port from  that  committee,  which  I  did,  as  follows : 

"ARTICLE  — ,  SEC.  1.  The  moneys  received  from  the 
United  States  under  the  provisions  of  an  act  of  congress 
of  April  18,  1818,  for  the  encouragement  of  learning, 
constituting  'the  school  fund,'  and  that  bestowed  on  a 
college,  or  university,  constituting  the  'college  fund,' 
as  well  as  that  arising  from  the  sale  of  lands  granted  for 
the  use  of  a  seminary  of  learning,  constituting  'the 
seminary  fund,'  with  all  additions  which  have  been  or 
may  hereafter  be  made  to  said  funds,  or  any  of  them, 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
*T  URBANA- CHAMPAIGN 


52  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

shall  remain  perpetual  funds  and  be  held  by  the  state 
for  the  uses  and  purposes  aforesaid,  the  annual  in- 
terest only  to  be  applied  to  the  support  of  the  schools, 
a  college,  or  seminaries,  under  the  authority  of  the  gen- 
eral assembly. 

"SEC.  2.  Officers  and  trustees  having  the  care  or  con- 
trol of  any  school,  college,  or  seminary  funds,  or  any 
school  fund  or  any  township  in  this  state,  for  investment, 
may  purchase  therewith  or  invest  the  same  in  the  bonds 
of  this  state,  at  their  market  value,  under  such  regula- 
tions as  the  general  assembly  may  prescribe,  and  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  the  general  assembly  to  provide  for 
the  prompt  payment  of  the  interest  of  such  bond,  so 
purchased  as  aforesaid,  as  the  same  becomes  due  :  Pro- 
vided, that  the  general  assembly  may  hereafter  prohibit 
or  restrict  such  investments  as  the  public  good  may  re- 
quire. 

"Ssc.  3.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  general  assembly 
to  provide  for  a  system  of  common  schools,  which  shall 
be  as  nearly  uniform  as  may  be  throughout  the  state, 
and  such  common  schools  shall  be  equally  free  to  all 
children  in  the  state,  and  no  sectarian  instruction  shall 
be  permitted  in  any  of  them. 

"SEC.  4.  The  superintendency  of  public  instruction 
in  this  state  shall  be  vested  in  an  officer  to  be  styled  'the 
superintendent  of  common  schools,'  and  such  county  and 
local  superintendencies  as  may  be  established  by  law. 

"SEC.  5.  At  the  first  session  of  the  general  assembly 
after  the  adoption  of  this  constitution,  and  biennially 
thereafter,  it  shall  -be  the  duty  of  the  governor,  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate  (a  majority  of 
all  the  members  elected  thereto  concurring  therein) ,  to 
appoint  a  superintendent  of  common  schools,  who  shall 
hold  his  office  for  the  term  of  two  years,  and  shall  perform 
such  duties  and  receive  such  salary  as  the  general  assem- 
bly may  prescribe  :  Provided,  that  vacancies  occurring  in 
said  office  by  death,  resignation,  refusal  to  act,  or  other- 
wise, may  be  filled  by  the  governor,  and  persons  thus 


CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1847.  53 

appointed  shall  continue  in  office  until  the  end  of  the 
next  session  of  the  general  assembly. 

"SEC.  6.  The  preceding  section  shall  continue  in 
force  for  the  term  of  six  years  from  and  after  the  time 
at  which  such  first  appointment  is  made  in  pursuance 
thereof,  and  no  longer,  after  which  time  the  general  as- 
sembly may  provide  for  the  continuance  of  said  office  of 
for  the  election  of  such  office  by  the  people." 

To  some  members  of  the  convention  the  proposition 
to  invest  the  school  funds  at  their  market  value,  when 
it  was  known  that  they  were  not  worth  more  than  fifty 
cents  on  the  dollar,  had  the  appearance  of  repudiation. 
I  thought  differently,  and  supposed  that  the  investment 
of  the  school  funds  in  state  bonds  was  legitimate  ;  but 
there  was  another  interest  that  opposed  the  report.  That 
was,  that  it  required  the  legislature  to  provide  a  system 
of  common  schools,  which  "shall  be  as  nearly  uniform  as 
may  be  throughout  the  state,  and  such  common  schools 
shall  be  equally  free  to  all  the  children  throughout  the 
state." 

A  majority  of  the  convention  supposed  that  this  would 
give  negroes  a  chance  to  enter  the  schools,  aud  therefore 
opposed  the  report. 

It  ought  not  to  be  considered  a  reproach  to  the  people  of 
Illinois  that  they  were  not  prepared  for  the  admission  of 
negroes  into  the  schools  at  that  time,  when  the  same  sub- 
ject is  still  a  matter  of  dispute  in  the  state. 

I  supported  the  "two  mill  tax"  introduced  by  Mr.  Ed- 
wards, of  Madison  county.  The  object  of  this  provision 
was  the  imposition  of  a  tax  of  two  mills  upon  all  the  prop- 
erty in  the  state.  It  provided  that  the  "fund  so  created 
shall  be  kept  separate,  and  shall  annually,  on  January 
1st,  be  apportioned  and  paid  over,  pro  rata,  upon  all  such 
state  indebtedness,  other  than  the  canal  and  school  in- 
debtedness, as  may  for  that  purpose  be  presented  by  the 
holders  of  the  same,  to  be  entered  as  credits  upon,  and 
to  that  extent,  in  extinguishment  of  the  principal  of 
said  indebtedness." 


54  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

This  separate  article  of  the  constitution  was  adopted 
by  the  people,  and  did  more  to  establish  and  maintain 
the  credit  of  the  state  than  any  other  measure. 

The  history  of  the  dueling  clause  in  the  constitution 
is  a  very  curious  one. 

Messrs.  Campbell  and  Pratt,  both  of  Jo  Daviess  county, 
became  involved  in  a  controversy  as  to  their  respective 
positions  as  to  alien  suffrage.  It  is  not  important  which 
was  the  challenger,  but  it  led  to  the  adoption  of  that 
stringent  clause  in  the  constitution  that  "from  and  after 
the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  every  person  who  shall 
be  elected  or  appointed  to  any  office  of  profit,  trust  or 
emolument,  civil  or  military,  legislative,  executive  or 
jndicial,  under  the  government  of  this  state,  shall,  be- 
fore he  enters  upon  the  duties,  in  addition  to  the  oath 
prescribed  in  this  constitution,  take  the  following  oath  : 
'I  do  most  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  as  the  case  may 
be) ,  that  I  have  not  sent  or  accepted  a  challenge  to  fight 
a  duel,  the  probable  issue  of  which  might  have  been  the 
death  of  either  party,  nor  have  been  a  second  to  either 
party,  nor  in  any  manner  aided  or  assisted  in  such  duel, 
nor  been  knowingly  the  bearer  of  such  challenge,  or  ac- 
ceptance, since  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  and 
that  I  will  not  be  so  engaged  or  concerned,  directly  or 
indirectly,  in  or  about  such  duel,  during  my  continuance 
in  office,  so  help  me  God.' ' 

After  the  convention  closed,  I  prosecuted  my  profes- 
sion, and  in  the  meantime  my  successful  opponent,  Col- 
onel Seborn  Gilmore,  having  resigned,  I  became  a  candi- 
date again  at  the  special  election  held  in  May,  1848,  for 
the  office  of  probate  justice  of  the  peace,  and  was  elected 
to  fill  the  vacancy,  against  Mr.  Harmon  V.  A.  Tap- 
pan,  by  a  majority  of  410  votes. 

On  the  Tuesday  after  the  first  Monday  in  November 
(to  which  time  the  election  had  been  changed  by  the 
constitution  of  1848) ,  I  was  a  successful  candidate  for 
the  office  of  county  judge  under  the  new  constitution, 


CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1847.  55 

with  James  Bredan  and  George  A.  W.  Cloud  (brother 
of  the  president  of  the  convention)  my  associates. 

One  question  we  had  to  settle  was  whether  township 
organization  had  been  adopted  in  Macoupin  county. 
The  constitution  of  1848,  so  called  on  account  of  the 
time  of  its  adoption  by  the  people,  provided  "that  the 
general  assembly  shall  provide  by  a  general  law,  for  a 
township  organization,  under  which  any  county  may 
organize,  whenever  a  majority  of  voters  of  such  county 
may  determine,  and  when  any  county  shall  adopt  a 
township  organization,  so  much  of  this  constitution  as 
provides  for  the  management  of  the  fiscal  concerns  of 
said  county,  by  the  county  court,  may  be  dispensed 
with,  and  the  affairs  of  said  county  may  be  transacted 
in  such  manner  as  the  general  assembly  may  provide." 

At  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  1848, 
the  townships  of  11  and  12  N.  6  W.  were  so  sparse  that  it 
was  doubtful  whether  they  would  be  able  to  furnish  the 
men  to  hold  the  offices  created  by  the  township  orgi- 
zation  law ;  Virden  was  not  laid  out,  and  Girard  was 
but  a  brick  kiln.  It  was  finally  agreed  by  the  county 
board  of  Macoupin  that  the  opinion  of  Judge  Stephen 
T.  Logan  should  be  taken  upon  the  question  as  to 
whether  township  organization  was  or  was  not  adopted. 

Macoupin  gave  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast  upon  the 
question  at  the  election  for  township  organization,  but 
it  did  not  give  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast  at  that 
election  for  township  organization. 

It  was  agreed  that  I  was  to  obtain  the  opinion  of 
Judge  Logan,  and  I  went  to  Springfield  for  that  pur- 
pose, on  horseback,  there  being  no  railroad. 

He  decided  that  the  township  organization  law  had 
not  been  adopted  by  this  county,  giving  a  written  opinion, 
for  which  he  charged  me  ten  dollars. 


56  THE  STORY   OF  AN   EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Elected  to  the  senate  1851 — The  Logan  Law — Major  Beatty  T.  Burke — 
Quarrel  with  Douglas. 

I  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  in  1851,  and  attended 
a  called  session  which  was  held  at  Springfield,  begin- 
ning on  June  7,  1852.  I  offered  resolutions  deploring 
the  death  of  my  predecessor,  Hon.  Franklin  Witt,  who 
had  resided  in  Green  county. 

I  was  placed  on  the  committee  on  incorporations, 
and  introduced  a  bill  for  amendment  to  the  law  exempt- 
ing homesteads  from  executions  and  other  measures  of 
like  character.  In  1853,  I  appeared  at  the  regular 
session  of  the  legislature,  which  commenced  January 
3d  of  that  year.  The  session  was  organized  with  Hon. 
William  McMurtry,  lieutenant-governor,  in  the  chair  * 
R.  E.  Goodell,  secretary,  and  I  was  assigned  to  the 
chairmanship  of  the  committee  on  incorporations.  At 
that  session  I  introduced  a  bill  "for  an  act  to  prevent 
fraudulent  banking,"  and  voted  in  caucus,  as  well  as  in 
joint  session,  for  Stephen  A.  Douglas  as  senator  in  the 
senate  of  the  United  States,  and  took  part  in  the  joint 
session  for  canvassing  the  votes  for  governor.  It  may 
be  interesting  to  know  that  Joel  A.  Matteson  had  eighty 
thousand,  seven  hundred  and  eighty-nine  votes,  and  E. 
B.  Webb  had  sixty  thousand,  four  hundred  and  eight. 
This  session  was  remarkable  for  the  interest  taken  and 
the  agitation  of  the  temperance  question.  The  legisla- 
ture passed  an  act  very  much  resembling  the  Maine 
liquor  law,  referring  the  question  of  the  adoption  of  the 
law  to  the  voters  of  the  state  at  the  following  general 
elections.  On  January  25th,  I  offered  a  resolution  for 
submission  to  the  people,  "an  amendment  to  the  con- 
stitution providing  a  salary  of  two  thousand  dollars  to 
the  judges  of  the  supreme  and  circuit  courts  of  the  state 


STATE  SENATOR— J.  A.  LOGAN— S.  A.  DOUGLAS.          57 

in  place  of  fifteen  hundred  allowed  them  by  the  clause 
of  the  constitution  proposed  to  be  amended." 

It  may  be  interesting  in  this  connection  to  state  that 
the  present  salary  of  a  supreme  judge  is  seven  thousand 
dollars,  and  that  of  a  judge  of  the  circuit  court  is  five 
thousand. 

I  also  introduced  a  bill  for  the  "repeal  of  an  act  to 
establish  a  general  system  of  banking."  A  bill  was 
passed  at  this  session  changing  the  name  of  "Fevre" 
river  to  that  of  "Galena." 

At  this  session  of  the  general  assembly  an  act  was  in- 
troduced by  John  A.  Logan,  a  representative  from 
Williamson  county,  entitled  "an  act  to  prevent  the 
immigration  of  negroes  into  this  state."  The  act  pro- 
vided that  "If  any  person  or  persons  shall  bring  or 
cause  to  be  brought  into  this  state  any  negro  or  mulatto 
slave,  whether  said  slave  is  set  free  or  not,  shall  be 
liable  to  an  indictment,  and  upon  conviction  thereof  be 
fined  for  every  such  negro  or  mulatto  the  sum  of  not 
less  than  one  hundred  dollars  nor  more  than  five  hun- 
dred dollars  and  imprisoned  in  the  county  jail  not  more 
than  one  year,  and  shall  stand  committed  until  said  fine 
and  costs  are  paid.  .  .  .  Provided  that  this  section 
shall  not  [be  construed  so  as  to  affect  persons  or  slaves 
bona  fide  traveling  through  this  state  from  and  to  any 
other  state  in  the  United  States." 

Section  3  of  the  act  provides  that  "if  any  negro  or 
mulatto,  bond  or  free,  shall  hereafter  come  into  this 
state  and  remain  ten  days,  with  the  evident  intention 
of  residing  in  the  same,  every  such  negro  or  mulatto 
shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  high  misdemeanor,  and  for 
the  first  offense  shall  be  fined  the  sum  of  fifty  dol- 
lars, to  be  recovered  before  any  justice  of  the  peace  in 
any  county  where  such  negro  or  mulatto  may  be  found. 
.  .  ."  Section  4  provides,  "if  said  negro  or  mulatto 
shall  be  found  guilty  and  the  fine  assessed  be  not  paid 
forthwith  to  the  justice  of  the  peace  before  whom  such 
proceedings  were  had,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  said 


58  THE  STORY  OF  AX  EARNEST  LIFE. 

justice  to  commit  said  negro  or  mulatto  to  the  custody 
of  the  sheriff  of  said  county,  or  otherwise  keep  him 
or  them  in  custody,  and  said  justice  shall  forthwith 
advertise  said  negro  or  mulatto,  by  posting  up  notices 
thereof  in  at  least  three  of  the  most  public  places  in  his 
district,  which  said  notices  shall  be  posted  up  for  ten 
days,  and  on  the  day  and  at  the  time  and  place  men- 
tioned in  said  advertisement  the  said  justice  shall  at 
public  auction  proceed  to  sell  said  negro  or  mulatto  to 
any  person  or  persons  who  will  pay  said  fine  and  costs 
for  the  shortest  time,  and  said  purchaser  shall  have  the 
right  to  compel  said  negro  or  mulatto  to  work  for  and 
serve  out  said  time,  and  he  shall  furnish  said  negro  or 
mulatto  with  comfortable  food,  clothing  and  lodging 
during  said  servitude. 

Section  5  of  the  act  provides  "that  if  said  negro  or 
mulatto  shall  not,  within  ten  days  after  the  expiration 
of  his  or  her  time  of  service  as  aforesaid,  leave  the  state, 
he  or  she  shall  be  liable  to  a  second  prosecution,  in 
which  the  penalty  shall  be  increased  fifty  dollars  over 
and  above  the  last  penalty  inflicted,  and  the  same  pro- 
ceedings shall  be  had  in  each  case  as  provided  for  in  the 
preceding  sections  for  the  first  offense." 

Section  6  provides  that  "said  negro  or  mulatto  shall 
have  a  right  to  take  an  appeal  to  the  circuit  court  of  the 
county  in  which  such  proceedings  shall  have  been  had 
within  five  days  after  the  rendition  of  the  judgment  be- 
fore the  justice  of  the  peace,  by  giving  bond  and  security 
to  be  approved  by  the  clerk  of  said  court  to  the  people 
of  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  to  be  filed  in  the  office  of  said 
clerk  within  said  five  days  in  double  the  amount  of  said 
fine  and  costs,  conditioned  that  the  party  appearing  will 
personally  be  and  appear  before  said  circuit  court  at  the 
next  term  thereof  and  not  depart  said  court  without 
leave,  and  will  pay  said  fine  and  all  costs  if  the  same 
shall  be  so  adjudged  by  said  court,  and  said  security 
shall  have  the  right  to  take  said  negro  or  mulatto  into 


STATE  SENATOR— J.  A.  LOGAN— S.  A.  DOUGLAS.          59 

custody  and  retain  the  same  until  the  order  of  said  court 
is  complied  with." 

All  the  provisions  of  the  act  are  an  example  of  bar- 
barity which  can  only  be  excused  by  the  prejudices  of 
that  part,  the  southern,  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  The 
whole  act  appears  on  page  57  of  the  "Acts  of  1853." 

This  statute  was  declared  unconstitutional  by  Hon. 
Samuel  S.  Marshall,  who  was  circuit  judge  at  the  time, 
and  he  refused  to  enforce  it. 

The  subject  of  the  action  of  congress  on  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill  was  introduced  into  the  senate  at  the 
special  session  of  1854  by  Mr.  O'Melveny,  a  senator 
from  Monroe  and  St.  Clair  counties.  The  governor  had 
made  no  allusion  to  the  subject  in  his  message,  which 
was  devoted  exclusively  to  state  affairs. 

The  legislature  had,  in  the  early  days  of  the  republic, 
instructed  the  senators  as  to  their  votes  and  duties,  and, 
though  Mr.  Douglas  had  acted  independently  of  the 
legislature  of  Illinois,  it  was  thought  best  by  his  friends 
that  he  should  be  indorsed  by  the  legislature  of  his  own 
state.  Mr.  O'Melveny  introduced  into  the  senate  the 
following  resolutions  on  February  9,  1854  : 

"Resolved,  by  the  senate  of  Illinois,  that  the  bill  to 
form  the  Nebraska  and  Kansas  territories,  as  presented 
and  advocated  by  our  distinguished  Senator  Douglas 
at  the  present  session  of  congress,  meets  with  our  ap- 
probation. 

"Resolved,  that  we  believe  that  the  best  interests  of 
the  Union  demands  the  passage  of  said  bill. 

"Resolved,  that  we  call  upon  all  Union  men  through- 
out the  state  to  support  said  bill. 

"Resolved,  that  we  will  sustain  Judge  Douglas  against 
all  Abolitionists  and  Free-soilers  in  this  state  so  far  as  the 
provisions  of  his  bill  is  concerned." 

Mr.  O'Melveny  moved  to  make  the  resolutions  the 
special  order  of  the  day  for  next  Monday  week,  which 
motion  was  decided  in  the  affirmative — yeas,  13  ;  nays, 
9 — and  the  resolutions  were  made  the  special  order  of 


60  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  day  for  Monday  week.  Thereupon,  I  offered,  on  the 
10th  day  of  the  same  month,  the  following  concurrent 
resolutions  as  a  substitute  for  the  resolutions  of  Mr. 
O'Melveny : 

"Resolved,  by  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives 
concurring  therein  :  1.  That  the  Missouri  Compromise 
and  the  compromise  measures  of  1850  provide  for  a  satis- 
factory and  final  settlement  of  the  subject  of  slavery, 
and  the  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois  in  common  with 
the  citizens  of  all  the  states  are  pledged  to  maintain  the 
same,  and  to  resist  and  discountenance  all  further  agita- 
tion of  the  question  as  tending  to  weaken  the  bonds  of 
the  Union,  and  as  threatening  its  perpetuity  and  peace." 

"2.  That  the  compromise  measures  of  1850  were  not 
intended  by  the  framers,  nor  understood  by  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  in  any  manner,  in  letter  or  spirit,  to 
weaken  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  that  portion  of  the 
territory  of  the  United  States  from  which  it  was  excluded 
by  the  terms  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 

"3.  That  the  provision  of  the  bill  for  the  organization 
of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  territories,  now  pending  in  the 
congress  of  the  United  States,  so  far  as  the  same  pro- 
poses to  tolerate  the  introduction  or  existence  of  slavery 
in  said  territory,  or  weakens  or  impairs  the  restrictions 
imposed  thereon  by  the  Missouri  Compromise,  meets  the 
unqualified  condemnation  and  opposition  of  this  general 
assembly,  as  directly  exciting  the  elements  of  agitation 
and  strife  so  happily  allayed  by  the  compromise  afore- 
said." 

I  was  at  that  time  sincerely  in  favor  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  which  excluded  slavery  from  the  territory 
west  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  north  of  the  latitude  of 
36°  30",  and  I  was  equally  sincere  in  my  support  of  the 
compromise  measures  of  1850,  and  I  felt  indignant  that 
an  Illinois  senator  should,  from  the  committee  on  terri- 
tories, make  a  report,  and  declare  the  Missouri  act  of  1820 
void,  as  being  contrary  to  law,  and  in  conflict  with  the 
measures  of  1850.  In  order  to  give  a  full  history  of  the 


STATE  SENATOR— J.  A.  LOGAN— S.  A.  DOUGLAS.         61 

action  of  the  senate  with  regard  to  the  Nebraska  bill, 
Mr.  Judd  offered  the  following  resolution:  "That  the 
general  assembly  of  the  State  of  Illinois  regard  the  act 
generally  known  as  the  'Missouri  Compromise  Act,' 
which  excludes  slavery  north  of  36°  30",  as  a  wise  and 
a  beneficial  enactment,  and  good  faith  requires  that  the 
same  be  preserved  inviolate."  Mr.  Judd  was  a  Demo- 
crat and  a  senator  from  Cook  county. 

The  house  was  in  favor  of  the  "Nebraska  bill,"  and 
passed  resolutions  which  Mr.  Davis  (of  Hancock)  intro- 
duced into  the  senate,  and  were  as  follows  :  "Resolved, 
that  our  liberty  and  independence  are  based  upon  the 
right  of  the  people  to  form  for  themselves  such  govern- 
ment as  they  may  choose  ;  that  this  great  privilege,  the 
birthright  of  freemen,  the  gift  of  heaven  secured  to  us 
by  the  blood  of  our  ancestors,  ought  to  be  extended  to 
future  generations,  and  no  limitations  ought  to  be  ap- 
plied to  this  power  in  the  organization  of  any  territory 
of  the  United  States  of  either  a  territorial  government 
or  a  state  constitution  ;  provided,  the  government  so  es- 
tablished shall  be  republican  and  in  conformity  with  the 
constitution. 

"Resolved,  that  we  will  stand  by  the  compromise  of 
1850 ;  that  we  are  attached  to  the  great  fundamental 
principles  of  democracy  and  free  institutions  which  lie 
at  the  basis  of  our  creed  and  gives  every  political  com- 
munity the  right  to  govern  itself,  to  form  such  a  gov- 
ernment as  they  may  choose  without  limitation,  re- 
striction or  hinderance,  save  obedience  to  the  constitu- 
tion of  our  country. 

"Resolved,  that  the  institution  of  slavery  was  one  of 
the  principal  subjects  of  compromise  embraced  in  the 
constitution  ;  that  it  is  recognized  therein,  and  we  deem 
the  restriction  of  a  geographical  line  upon  the  right  of 
the  people  to  form,  such  a  government  as  they  may  choose 
in  regard  to  the  question  of  slavery,  was  a  gross  violation 
of  that  sacred  right,  as  a  similar  restriction  upon  any 
other  question  of  government,  the  right  whereof  is 


62  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

equally  recognized   by  the   constitution   of   the  United 
States. 

"Resolved,  that  this  principle  is  contained  and  carried 
out  in  the  Nebraska  bill  offered  in  the  congress  of  the 
United  States  by  our  distinguished  Senator  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  ;  that  we  approve  of  said  bill,  and  that  we  will 
sustain  our  senator  in  his  advocacy  of  the  same." 

Efforts  were  made  to  evade  a  vote  upon  the  main 
question  by  some  senators  who  were  anxious  to  avoid 
committing  the  Democratic  party  to  an  unwise  and  dan- 
gerous policy.  I  offered  the  following  amendment  to 
Mr.  Davis'  resolution:  "That  the  law  now  in  force, 
called  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  the  bill  for  the  or- 
ganization of  Oregon  territory  excluding  slavery  from 
its  limits,  are  wise  and  judicious,  and  ought  to  be  main- 
tained." 

The  vote  upon  the  passage  of  the  resolution  proposed 
by  Mr.  Davis  and  rejecting  my  proposed  amendment 
was  fifteen  to  seven.  Those  voting  in  the  affirmative 
were :  Messrs.  Bryan  of  Marion,  Campbell  of  Mc- 
Donough,  Corder  of  Williamson,  Cockle  of  Peoria, 
Davis  of  Hancock,  Detrick  of  Randolph,  Howard  of 
Jo  Daviess,  Jerningan  of  Christian,  Kuykendall  of 
Johnson,  Morton  of  Morgan,  O'Kean  of  Richland, 
O'Melveny  of  Monroe,  Parker  of  Coles,  Parsons  of 
Pike,  Wynn  of  Clark ;  and  those  voting  in  the  affirm- 
ative on  my  amendment  and  in  the  negative  on  the 
resolutions  were  :  Messrs.  Cook  of  La  Salle,  Gillespie  of 
Madison,  Griclley  of  McLean,  Judd  of  Cook,  Osgood  of 
Will,  Palmer  of  Macoupin,  Talcott  of  Winnebago. 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  special  session  of  1854, 
I  was  conscious  that  I  had  differed  with  my  party  upon 
the  subject  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  and  of  the 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  had  from  that 
cause  alienated  many  of  the  ultra-proslavery  men  of 
the  Democratic  party,  and  I  knew  that  I  had  given  that 
class  of  men  some  evidence,  which  they  used  unspar- 
ingly, to  convict  me  of  the  political  offense  called 


STATE  SENATOR— J.  A.  LOGAN— S.  A.  DOUGLAS.         63 

"abolitionism  ;"  but  I  did  not  then  foresee,  what  I  after- 
wards discovered  to  be  true,  that  the  slavery  question 
would  not  cease  to  disturb  the  country  as  long  as  that 
institution  existed.  I  supposed  that  the  Democratic 
party  would  again  unite  upon  other  issues,  and  I  was 
mainly  anxious  to  preserve  my  personal  independence 
and  the  right,  inside  of  the  party  lines,  to  act  according 
to  the  dictates  of  my  own  sense  of  personal  duty. 

I  was  fully  awakened  from  that  delusion  by  the 
events  which  transpired  on  July  4,  1854.  On  that  day, 
in  pursuance  of  an  invitation,  I  attended  a  celebration 
held  north  of  Virden,  in  the  edge  of  Sangamon  county, 
and  undertook  the  oration  of  the  day.  I  indulged  in 
the  usual  glorification  of  our  revolutionary  fathers  and 
quoted  from  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  as  I  had 
often  done  on  like  occasions,  that  "All  men  are  created 
equal,  and  are  endowed  with  certain  inalienable  rights, 
among  which  are  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  hap- 
piness," words  which  Mr.  John  C.  Calhoun  had  char- 
acterized as  "glittering  generalities,"  and  Mr.  Douglas 
said  meant  "no  more  than  our  fathers  intended  to  claim 
by  those  words  that  British  subjects  born  on  this  con- 
tinent had  the  same  rights  that  British  subjects  had  who 
were  born  in  Great  Britain."  I  attacked  Mr.  Calhoun, 
but  spoke  of  Mr.  Douglas  with  the  respect  I  really  felt 
for  him,  but  my  remarks  stirred  up  a  storm.  Before  I 
left  the  ground  I  was  convinced  that  the  Democratic 
party  was  hopelessly  divided,  and  that  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  had  stirred  up  passions  that  could 
not  be  allayed,  and  that  the  country  was  about  entering 
upon  a  struggle  which  would  probably  result  in  very 
serious  consequences.  My  first  conclusion  was  to  avoid 
all  participation  in  the  approaching  controversy,  and  I 
did,  in  a  letter  dated  August  14,  1854,  decline  to  be  a 
candidate  for  nomination  for  reelection  to  the  state 
senate  by  any  convention  which  made  adhesion  to  the 
Nebraska  bill  a  test  of  party  orthodoxy.  .  .  .  This, 
however,  did  not  satisfy  the  ultra  party  men,  who  would 


64  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

accept  from  me  nothing  but  complete  submission.  The 
Democratic  party  had  then  practically  controlled  the 
government  of  the  United  States  from  the  time  of  the 
administration  of  General  Jackson  ;  and  though  Harrison 
had  defeated  Van  Buren  in  1840,  and  Taylor  was  elected 
over  Cass  in  1848,  in  both  instances  the  victories  of  the 
enemies  of  democracy  were  barren  of  results.  The 
election  of  General  Pierce  over  General  Scott,  in  1852, 
had  annihilated  the  "Whig  party,  and  the  democracy 
were  triumphant  and  arrogant.  Douglas  was  absolutely 
supreme  in  the  party  in  Illinois,  and  his  supremacy  was 
a  despotism  ;  his  demand  was  to  "shoot  the  deserters," 
and  by  deserters  he  meant  all  Democrats  who  were  un- 
willing to  follow  him. 

The  district  senatorial  convention,  which  assembled  in 
August,  1854,  passed  resolutions  indorsing  the  Nebraska 
bill,  and  nominated  Major  Beatty  T.  Burke,  of  Macoupin 
county,  as  a  candidate  for  the  senate. 

Major  Burke  was  a  remarkable  man,  and  as  my  re- 
lations to  him  were  of  a  peculiar  character,  I  regard  it  as 
a  duty  to  attempt  at  least  to  do  justice  to  his  memory. 
He  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  before  he  came  to 
Illinois  was  employed  in  the  armory  at  Harper's  Ferry. 
When  I  came  to  Macoupin  county,  in  1839,  he  was 
sheriff  of  the  county,  elected  in  1838,  after  a  contest 
which  was  conducted  with  great  heat,  although  the 
issues  between  himself  and  Jefferson  Weatherford,  the 
former  sheriff,  and  a  candidate  for  reelection,  were 
mainly  personal.  He  was  elected  to  the  office  of  sheriff 
for  five  terms  of  two  years  each,  and  after  two  years  of 
service  in  the  legislature,  was  again  elected  sheriff.  We 
became  friends  soon  after  we  met  in  1839,  and  remained 
so  until  we  were  opposing  candidates  for  the  senate. 
Major  Burke  possessed  vigorous  physical  and  mental 
powers,  but  he  had  little  knowledge  of  politics,  he  was 
an  active  canvasser,  and  had  many  friends  in  Macoupin 
county.  His  sympathies  were  with  the  South,  and  he 
really  thought  the  pretensions  of  the  slaveholding  states 


STATE  SENATOR— J.  A.  LOGAN— S.  A.  DOUGLAS.         65 

were  so  moderate,  that  they  should  be  acceded  to  by  the 
North  without  hesitation.  He  had  opposed  the  compro- 
mise measures  of  1850  for  the  same  reasons  the  southern 
leaders  did,  and  was  ready  to  support  them  in  whatever 
they  might  consider  to  be  their  rights.  He  was  honest 
and  truthful,  a  good  citizen  and  a  sincere  friend.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  house  of  representatives  in  1852, 
while  I  was  a  member  of  the  senate,  and  our  relations 
were  most  pleasant. 

Major  Burke  was  renominated  for  a  seat  in  the  house, 
in  1854,  but  he  preferred  to  make  a  canvass  for  the  sen- 
ate, and  accordingly  sought  and  obtained  the  nomina- 
tion from  the  convention  which  assembled  at  Tegard's 
mill,  now  Rockbridge.  After  he  was  nominated  for  the 
senate,  his  course  towards  me  was  so  personal  that  I  de- 
termined to  become  an  independent  Democratic  candi- 
date, making  no  other  issue  with  him  than  that  of  the 
policy  of  the  repeal  of  the  compromise  measure  of  1820. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  canvass  Major  Burke  had  the 
advantage  of  me,  on  account  of  certain  local  and  personal 
matters,  one  of  which  was  my  connection  with  the  de- 
fense of  Andrew  J.  Nash,  who  was  tried  for  murder  in 
Macoupin  county.  Nash,  who  was  a  most  dangerous  and 
vindictive  man,  had  killed  one  Alexander  Lockerman,  a 
quiet  and  inoffensive  citizen,  and  fled  the  country.  A  year 
or  two  afterward  he  was  arrested  in  Arkansas,  and  brought 
back  to  Macoupin  county  for  trial,  With  all  his  faults 
he  had  always  been  a  true  friend  of  mine.  He  was  tried 
by  a  jury,  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  be  hung  on  a 
fixed  but  not  distant  day.  I  had  given  him  my  profes- 
sional service  gratuitously,  and  was  assisted  in  his  de- 
fense by  Hon.  Murray  McConnell,  of  Jacksonville,  one 
of  the  leading  criminal  lawyers  of  his  day.  Mr.  Mc- 
Connell was  afterwards  assassinated  in  his  home  in 
Jacksonville  under  circumstances  of  peculiar  atrocity. 

After  Nash  was  convicted  and  sentenced  I  obtained  the 
signatures  of  some  of  the  jury  to  a  petition  asking  the 
governor  (Matteson)  to  commute  his  sentence  to  impris- 
5 


66  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

onment  for  life,  and  also  obtained  other  signatures,  in- 
cluding that  of  Major  Burke,  who  was  at  the  time  sheriff 
of  the  county.  "With  these  petitions  I  applied  to  Gov- 
ernor Matteson,  but  the  governor  refused  to  interfere  un- 
less Judge  David  M.Woodson,  of  Carrollton,  who  presided 
at  the  trial,  would  recommend  it.  I  left  Carlinville  on 
Tuesday  before  the  Friday  fixed  for  the  execution  of  the 
sentence,  and  hoped  to  obtain  the  order  of  commutation 
from  the  governor,  and  return  home  on  the  same  even- 
ing, so  that  on  Wednesday,  Nash  could  be  removed  from 
the  jail  to  the  penitentiary.  The  necessity  of  obtain- 
ing Judge  Woodson's  recommendation  imposed  upon 
me  by  the  governor  compelled  me  to  go  to  Jacksonville, 
which  I  did  by  rail,  and  from  thence  to  Carrollton, 
where  Judge  'Woodson  resided,  by  stage.  I  went  to 
Carrollton,  saw  the  judge,  who  very  kindly  indorsed  the 
recommendation,  returned  to  Jacksonville,  and  reached 
Springfield,  Thursday  forenoon,  obtained  the  order  from 
the  governor,  but  was  not  able  to  reach  Carlinville  be- 
fore eleven  o'clock  at  night.  The  jail  was  built  of  logs. 
I  called  to  Nash,  told  him  of  my  success,  and  expressed 
the  hope  that  he  could  be  removed  the  next  morning. 
It  was  too  late,  however,  men,  women  and  children  had 
come  from  Greene,  Madison,  Bond,  Montgomery,  Mor- 
gan and  other  neighboring  counties,  to  "see  the  hang- 
ing." Some  of  them  had  camped  near  the  jail,  and 
heard  what  I  had  told  Nash,  so  that  when  morning  came 
the  mob  spirit  was  fairly  aroused. 

During  the  forenoon,  hundreds  of  others  came  in, 
and  the  removal  of  Nash  was  impossible.  The  mob 
charged  the  jail,  to  take  Nash  out  and  hang  him.  The 
sheriff,  Major  Burke,  who  was  a  man  of  resolution,  sup- 
ported by  about  twenty  men,  held  the  mob  at  bay,  when 
some  one  proposed  to  substitute  me  for  Nash.  My  office 
was  upon  the  ground  floor,  north  of  the  public  square,  and 
a  short  distance  from  the  jail.  I  had  no  other  weapon 
than  an  axe.  The  crowd  was  led  by  Nick  Lockerman, 
a  brother  of  the  murdered  man.  I  met  them  at  the 


STATE  SENATOR— J.  A.  LOGAN— S.  A.  DOUGLAS.          67 

door  with  the  axe  in  iny  hand,  and  as  they  had  no  firearms, 
I  thought  I  would  try  strategy.  I  said  to  Lockerman  : 
"Nick,  I  have  friends  in  that  crowd  that  will  kill  you  if 
I  do  not — look  around  you!"  He  was  startled,  and 
commenced  cursing  me.  I  knew  at  once  that  the  danger 
was  over.  A  short  time  afterwards,  information  reached 
a  part  of  the  crowd  that  Nash  was  dead ;  he  had  hung 
himself  in  the  jail.  His  body  was  soon  afterwards 
brought  upon  the  square,  and  publicly  shown.  The  mob 
being  satisfied  dispersed,  and  the  excitement  of  the  day 
was  over. 

I  was  aware  of  the  fact  that  my  defense  of  Nash,  my 
interference  on  his  behalf  after  his  conviction,  was  con- 
demned by  the  inconsiderate  ;  but  I  knew  the  people  of 
the  county  so  well  that  I  was  satisfied  that  before  the 
election  I  could  turn  it  to  my  advantage. 

My  competitor  and  I  followed  the  old  plan  of  ad- 
dressing the  people  at  all  the  important  points  of  the 
senatorial  district,  which  was  composed  of  the  counties 
of  Macoupin,  in  which  we  both  lived,  and  Greene  and 
Jersey.  Our  first  public  meeting  was  at  Stanton,  in  the 
southeastern  corner  of  Macoupin  county.  Major  Burke 
spoke  first,  and  alluded  to  the  affair  of  Nash.  He  ad- 
mitted that  he  had  signed  the  petition  for  the  commuta- 
tion of  Nash's  sentence,  but  claimed  that  he  did  so  at 
my  request. 

He  then  proceeded  to  define  his  position  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  He 
claimed  that  the  states  of  the  Union  were  equal,  and 
that  the  citizens  of  the  states  in  which  slavery  existed  had 
a  right  to  remove  into  the  territories  of  the  United  States 
with  their  slaves  and  hold  them  as  slaves  until  the  peo- 
ple with  the  sanction  of  congress  formed  a  state  govern- 
ment, when  slavery  might  be  tolerated  in  or  excluded 
from  the  new  state.  He  attacked  the  popular  sover- 
eignty doctrine  of  Douglas  as  absurd  (which  it  was) , 
and  said  that  John  P.  Hale,  Geo.  W.  Julian  and  Owen 
Love  joy  were  with  me  in  opposition  to  the  repeal  of 


68  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  Missouri  Compromise.  These  were  the  most  distin- 
guished of  the  abolitionists  of  that  day,  and  abolition- 
ism and  abolitionists  were  odious  to  the  people  to  an  ex- 
tent which  cannot  now  be  understood.  In  my  reply,  I 
adopted  a  course  of  conduct  which  I  have  always  acted 
upon,  and  which  has  never  failed  me,  and  will  not  fail 
any  one  else  before  a  western  audience.  I  frankly 
avowed  that  Nash  was  my  friend,  and  briefly  adverted  to 
the  services  he  had  rendered  me.  I  said  that  on  his  re- 
turn to  Carlinville,  after  his  apprehension  in  Arkansas, 
he  had  sent  for  me  and  told  me  that  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren had  but  little  to  pay  for  defending  him,  but  asked 
me  to  do  so.  I  then  said  I  had  told  him  that  the  charge 
against  him  was  an  aggravated  one  ;  that  his  conviction 
was  almost  certain,  but  that  I  would  defend  him,  and 
that  he  should  not  die  until  every  means  of  saving  his 
life  was  exhausted.  I  said  to  the  people  that  I  had  kept 
the  promise  made  to  Nash,  and  if  anyone  chose  to  vote 
against  me  for  doing  so,  I  had  no  objection.  They  were 
a  manly,  generous  people,  and  neither  Major  Burke  nor 
I  ever  alluded  to  the  subject  again. 

I  had  more  trouble  in  defending  myself  for  opposing 
the  Nebraska  bill.  At  that  time  the  prejudice  against 
abolitionists  was  bitter,  and  affected  the  minds  of  three- 
fourths  of  the  voters.  I  was  only  remotely  influenced 
in  my  course  by  hostility  to  slavery,  though  I  avowed 
my  opposition  to  the  institution.  I  was  chiefly  con- 
cerned by  the  fact  that  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise reopened  the  slavery  question. 

In  February,  1854,  at  the  special  session  of  the  senate, 
I  had  offered  for  adoption  the  resolutions  heretofore 
copied,  which  at  once  expressed  my  opinions  as  well  as 
my  apprehensions.  I  reiterated  the  substance  of  these 
resolutions  in  all  the  speeches  I  made  in  the  district,  and 
assailed  Major  Burke  for  his  opposition  to  the  compro- 
mise of  1850,  and  the  result  was  I  was  elected  by  about 
two  hundred  majority. 

This  contest  had  much  to  do  with  my  subsequent  po- 


STATE  SENATOR— J.  A.  LOGAN— S.  A.  DOUGLAS.          69 

litical  career.  I  have  already  expressed  my  great  regard 
for  Mr.  Douglas,  and  up  to  the  time  to  which  I  refer,  I 
regarded  him  as  my  friend.  Two  or  three  weeks  before 
the  election,  he  came  into  the  district  and  addressed  the 
people  of  Greene  county  at  Carrollton,  and  from  that 
place  came  to  Carlinville,  my  home.  I  came  into  Car- 
linville  from  Jersey ville,  where  I  had  attended  court, 
after  sundown  on  the  same  day,  and  hearing  that  Judge 
Douglas  was  at  the  hotel,  I  called  upon  him,  and  we 
spent  two  hours  or  more  in  earnest  conversation,  of  the 
purport  that  Judge  Douglas  was  anxious  that  as  the 
legislature  would  elect  a  senator  to  succeed  General 
James  Shields,  I  should  agree  to  attend  the  legislative 
caucus  and  vote  for  whoever  might  be  nominated  as 
a  candidate  for  senator.  On  the  other  hand,  I  insisted 
that  as  I  was  an  independent  Democratic  candidate  for 
state  senator  in  opposition  to  the  Nebraska  bill,  and  es- 
pecially opposed  to  that  measure  as  a  test  of  party  or- 
thodoxy, he  ought  to  agree  that  the  Democratic  caucus 
should  pass  no  resolutions  favoring  that  measure. 

Our  discussion  was  somewhat  heated,  and  both  of  us 
obstinate,  and  he  finally  said  to  me  :  "You  may  join  the 
Abolitionists  if  you  choose  to  do  so,  but  if  you  do,  there 
are  enough  patriotic  "Whigs  to  take  your  place  and  elect 
Shields."  I  answered:  "I  will  beat  Burke  in  spite  of 
all  you  can  do  against  me.  You  will  fix  the  imputation 
of  abolitionism  upon  me,  and  by  that  means  beat  me 
down :  we  have  fought  the  Whigs  together,  you  now 
promise  yourself  that  they  will  take  my  place,  and  help 
elect  Shields.  I  will  fight  you  until  you  are  defeated, 
and  have  learned  to  value  your  friends."  I  kept  my 
word,  and  I  think  Judge  Douglas  had  no  more  active  or 
earnest  political  enemy  than  I  was  from  that  time  until 
I  met  him  in  Washington  in  February,  1861,  as  I  will 
hereafter  relate. 

In  1854,  Major  Burke  obtained  a  "dispensation"  for 
the  establishment  of  Mt.  Nebo  Lodge,  No.  76,  and  Mr. 
Charles  Fisher,  of  this  city  and  Dr.  Z.  T.  Cabinis,  whose 


70  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

home  was  afterwards  Petersburg,  Menard  county,  at 
which  place  lie  died,  came  to  Carlinville  and  opened  the 
lodge.  I  was  initiated,  passed  and  raised  by  the  same 
dispensation  to  the  degree  of  Master  Mason.  The  dis- 
pensation was  issued  by  William  Lavely,  the  Grand 
Master  Mason  at  that  time.  I  have  been  a  member  of 
that  lodge  ever  since. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  71 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Blooinington  Convention — Organization  of  the  Republican  party — 
Platform  of  the  Convention — Delegate  to  the  Philadelphia  Conven- 
tion— Freemont  and  Dayton — Platform  adopted — Affair  with  Major 
Harris. 

As  I  have  before  stated,  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill, 
which  passed  congress  in  May,  1854,  declared  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise  of  1850,  by  which  slavery  was  re- 
stricted on  the  north  of  the  line  of  36°  30"  inoperative 
and  void,  by  reason  of  its  alleged  inconsistency  with  the 
compromise  measures  of  1850,  and  established  instead 
the  principle  of  popular  sovereignty ;  that  is,  "that  con- 
gress should  not  legislate  slavery  into  any  territory  or 
state,  or  exclude  it  therefrom,  but  leave  the  people 
thereof  perfectly  free  to  form  and  regulate  their  domestic 
institutions  in  their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the  consti- 
tution of  the  United  States." 

This  came  upon  the  country  like  a  "clap  of  thunder 
from  a  clear  sky."  The  Democratic  party  still  main- 
tained its  organization.  Mr.  Douglas  was  aware  of  the 
effect  which  such  a  measure  might  be  expected  to  pro- 
duce upon  th6  country. 

Under  such  circumstances,  the  general  assembly  con- 
vened on  the  first  Monday  in  January,  1855,  and  the 
election  of  senator  was  fixed  for  the  8th  of  February 
following. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  the  choice  of  a  large  majority  of  the 
anti-Nebraska  members  for  senator,  while  General  James 
Shields  received  the  caucas  nomination  of  the  Nebraska 
Democrats.  Ten  ballots  were  had  in  the  joint  session, 
and  Lincoln  received,  on  the  first  ballot,  45  votes ; 
Shields,  41 ;  Lyinan  Trumbull,  5.  In  the  six  following 
ballots,  Lincoln  fell  off  36  votes  ;  Trumbull  increased  to 
10,  and  Shields  received  42  votes.  It  now  becoming  ap- 


72  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

parent  that  the  choice  must  fall  upon  either  Trumbull  or 
Matteson  (who  had  taken  the  place  of  Shields  on  the  bal- 
loting, and  received  the  whole  Nebraska  vote) ,  Lincoln 
came  into  the  hall  of  representatives,  where  the  ballot- 
ing was  held,  and  urged  his  Whig  friends  to  vote  for 
Trumbull,  and  on  the  final  ballot  Trumbull  received  51 
votes,  and  Matteson  47,  and  1  for  Archibald  Williams, 
cast  by  Louis  H.  Waters,  who  afterwards  commanded 
the  84th  Illinois  Regiment.  The  five  anti-Nebraska 
Democrats  were  Messrs.  Cook,  of  La  Salle,  Judd,  of 
Cook,  and  Palmer,  of  the  senate ;  Allen  and  Baker,  both 
of  Madison  county,  of  the  house. 

"In  order  to  reconcile  seemingly  conflicting  but  actu- 
ally congenial  elements  in  the  election  of  1856,  a  con- 
vention was  called  to  meet  at  Decatur,  February  22, 
1856.  This  convention  was  composed  of  Paul  Selby,  of 
the  Jacksonville  Journal;  Wm.  J.  Storey,  Decatur 
Chronicle;  V.  Y.  Ralston,  Quincy  Whig;  Charles  H. 
Ray,  Chicago  Tribune ;  O.  P.  Wharton,  Rock  Island 
Advertiser;  E.  C.  Dougherty,  Rockford  Register;  Thos. 
J.  Prickett,  Peoria  Republican;  Geo.  Schneider,  Staats 
Zeitung,  Chicago;  Charles  Faxton,  Princeton  Post;  A. 
U.  Ford,  Lacon  Gazette ;  and  B.  F.  Shaw,  Dixon  Tele- 
graph." 

This  committee  appointed  a  central  committee,  con- 
sisting of  James  C.  Conkling,  Springfield ;  Asahel  Grid- 
ley,  Bloomington  ;  Burton  C.  Cook,  Ottowa ;  Charles  H. 
Ray  and  N.  B.  Judd,  of  Chicago,  which  was  authorized 
to  call  a  convention,  which  was  held  at  Bloomington, 
May  29,  1856,  called  the  Anti-Slavery  Extension  Con- 
vention. 

I  was  made  permanent  president  of  the  convention, 
assisted  by  a  number  of  vice-presidents.  The  platform 
adopted  embraced  the  following  planks:  "1.  Opposi- 
tion to  the  Democratic  administration  of  Mr.  Buchanan. 
2.  That  congress  possessed  the  power  to  abolish  slavery 
in  the  territories,  and  should  exercise  that  power  to  pre- 
vent the  extension  of  slavery  into  territories  heretofore 


ORGANIZATION  OF  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  73 

free.  3.  Opposition  to  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, and  in  favor  of  making  Kansas  and  Nebraska 
free  states.  4.  In  favor  of  the  Union  and  the  constitu- 
tion. 5.  In  favor  of  the  immediate  admission  of  Kan- 
sas as  a  free  state  under  the  constitution  adopted  by 
her  people.  6.  In  favor  of  liberty  of  conscience  as  well 
as  political  freedom,  proscribing  no  one  on  account  of 
religious  opinions  or  in  consequence  of  place  of  birth." 

Moses  says,  Illinois,  Vol.  2,  p.  599  :  "It  was  a  famous 
gathering,  and  marked  the  commencement  of  a  new  era 
in  the  politics  of  the  state.  All  those  who  subsequently 
became  leaders  of  the  Republican  party  were  there — 
Whigs,  Democrats,  Know-No  things  and  Abolitionists. 
Those  who  had  all  their  lives  been  opposing  and  fight- 
ing each  other  found  themselves  harmoniously  sitting 
side  by  side,  consulting  and  shouting  their  enthusiastic 
and  unanimous  accord.  Among  these  were  Lincoln, 
Palmer,  Browning,  Wentworth,  Yates,  Lovejoy,  Oglesby 
and  Koerner.  .  .  ." 

The  nominees  of  the  convention  were  "William  H.  Bis- 
sell,  for  governor ;  Francis  A.  Hoffman,  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor, both  of  whom  were  Democrats  ;  Ozias  M.  Hatch, 
secretary  of  state,  and  Jesse  K.  DuBois,  auditor,  and 
James  Miller,  for  treasurer  (all  Whigs),  and  Wm.  H. 
Powell,  superintendent  of  public  instruction,  a  Demo- 
crat. Again  quoting  from  Moses,  p.  600  : 

"It  was  a  body  in  which  ideas  predominated,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  personal  prejudices,  and  the  absorbing  inter- 
est of  the  convention  centered  upon  the  discussion  of  the 
political  principles  embraced  in  the  platform.  Eloquent 
speeches  were  made  by  all  the  prominent  delegates — 
Palmer,  from  a  Democratic  standpoint ;  Browning,  from 
the  outlook  of  an  old  Whig ;  and  Lovejoy,  from  a  pin- 
nacle which  others  had  not  been  able  hitherto  to  climb. 
These  were  all  able,  earnest  efforts,  aroused  by  wild  en- 
thusiasm, but  it  was  left  for  Abraham  Lincoln,  in  the 
final  address,  in  what  was  the  greatest  forensic  effort  of 


74  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

his  life,  to  stir  the  souls  of  that  vast  assemblage  to  the 
lowest  depths." 

I  only  remember  one  expression  used  by  Mr.  Lincoln 
on  that  occasion,  "We  will  not  dissolve  the  Union,  and 
you  shall  not  do  it." 

I  was  elected  by  the  convention  a  delegate  to  the 
National  Republican  Convention,  which  was  held  at 
Philadelphia,  June  17,  1856,  and  in  which  John  C.  Fre- 
mont was  nominated  for  the  presidency,  and  William 
L.  Dayton  for  the  vice-presidency.  I  placed  in  nomina- 
tion for  the  vice-presidency  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illi- 
nois, who  received  the  highest  number  of  votes  given  to 
an  unsuccessful  candidate. 

Moses,  in  his  "Illinois,"  p.  602,  has  given  an  account 
of  an  affair  which  occurred  between  Major  Thos.  L.  Har- 
ris and  myself  at  Plainview,  in  Macoupin  county. 
There  was  no  "ill  feeling,"  as  Moses  says,  between  Major 
Harris  and  myself  up  to  that  time,  for  I  had  voted  for 
him  in  1854,  and  was  a  member  of  the  convention  which 
nominated  him. 

Major  Harris  had  come  into  the  county  during  his  can- 
vass for  election  to  congress,  and  learned  that  I  had  spoken 
severely  of  a  letter  written  by  him  to  Mr.  Geo.  H.  Holi- 
day, and  read  at  the  opening  of  the  Macoupin  Circuit 
Court.  I  had  said  of  the  letter  when  it  was  read  that 
it  contained  "statements  that  Major  Harris  would  not 
have  made  if  any  honest  man  had  been  looking  him  in 
the  face."  Major  Harris  afterwards  came  to  Carlinville 
and  professed  to  be  hunting  for  me  to  hold  me  respon- 
sible for  what  I  had  said.  I  was,  on  the  day  preceding 
the  meeting  at  Plainview,  at  Edwardsville  with  Mr. 
Lincoln,  where  we  had  made  Fremont  speeches. 

On  my  return  home  Mr.  William  M.  Maddox  told  me 
with  something  like  exultation  that  Major  Harris  had 
been  in  town  the  day  before  looking  for  me.  I  learned 
that  Major  Harris  was  to  speak  at  Plainview  on  the 
next  day.  I  went  to  the  station  at  Carlinville  and  took 
the  train  for  that  place,  and  at  that  time  of  my  life  was 


ORGANIZATION  OF  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  75 

not  unwilling  to  interview  any  gentleman  who  desired 
to  interview  me,  found  the  major  on  board  the  train. 
He  was  very  friendly,  and  during  our  ride  of  fifteen  miles 
together  treated  me  courteously.  I  was  surprised  at  his 
conduct,  and  after  dining  with  friends  I  attended  the 
meeting  which  was  called  by  him,  and  which  was  first 
addressed  by  Charles  A.  Keyes,  of  Springfield,  in  a 
speech  of  nearly  an  hour.  When  Mr.  Keyes  had  con- 
cluded Major  Harris  took  the  stand  and  said  that  he 
"had  heard  that  a  gentleman  now  present  had  said  that 
his  letter  to  the  Carlinville  Convention  had  contained 
matter  that  he  would  not  have  dared  to  write  if  he  (the 
gentleman  referred  to)  had  been  looking  him  in  the 
face."  At  that  time  it  was  the  custom  to  mob  anti- 
slavery  men,  and  as  we  were  called  "Black-Repub- 
licans" it  was  supposed  that  we  had  adopted  their 
methods  of  "non-resistance."  I  said,  in  reply  to  Major 
Harris,  "I  did  not  say  he  would  not  have  used  the 
words  of  the  letter  if  I  had  been  looking  him  in  the 
face,"  but  added  that  "he  would  not  have  used  the 
words  of  the  letter  if  any  honest  man  had  been  looking 
in  his  face." 

He  said  in  reply,  "that  is  a  specimen  of  these  das- 
tardly Black-Republicans;"  I  said  to  him,  "If  you  ap- 
ply that  language  to  me,  you  area  liar!"  The  major 
then  stepped  off  the  stand  he  occupied  and  said,  after 
advancing  toward  me,  "He  has  a  pistol."  I  said,  "I  did 
not  draw  a  pistol  on  you,  I  can  whip  you  with  one  hand 
tied  behind  me,  but  I  am  watching  your  dogs."  I  was 
not  in  the  habit  of  carrying  a  pistol,  as  there  were  no 
pockets  for  concealing  "pints,  "quarts,"  or  pistols  in 
the  trousers  of  1856.  It  had  been  handed  me  at  the 
station  by  Mr.  George  H.  F.  Work,  a  student  in  my 
office,  who  called  my  attention  to  certain  persons  going 
to  Plain  view,  ostensibly  to  hear  Major  Harris  speak,  and 
said,  "You  will  have  a  row  before  you  return  and  will 
need  it."  The  pistol  was  taken  from  me  by  Mr.  Sam- 
uel T.  Mayo  and  Mr.  James  Fishback,  two  of  my 


76  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

friends,  and  returned  after  Major  Harris  had  ceased 
speaking.  When  he  was  through  I  made  the  speech 
which  Moses  attributes  to  me,  and  said  in  its  opening, 
"I  have  nothing  of  the  border  ruffian  about  me  but  this 
pistol."  There  was  no  further  disturbance,  but  more 
than  once  I  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  the  words,  "I 
would  like  to  bounce  a  rock  off  his  head." 

Before  the  affair  with  Major  Harris,  I  went  to  Alton, 
and  with  many  friends  visited  St.  Louis  to  hear  Colonel 
Thomas  H.  Benton  who  had  just  returned  from  his 
"forty  days  in  the  wilderness."  "We  called  upon 
Colonel  Benton  at  the  "Planter's  House,"  and  were  in- 
troduced to  him.  He  invited  me  to  take  a  seat  with 
him  in  the  evening  on  the  platform  from  which  he  was 
to  speak,  but  I  told  him  that  "my  Illinois  friends  would 
expect  me  to  be  with  them,  and  we  would  be  heard  from 
during  the  evening."  He  said:  "It  was  a  commenda- 
ble determination." 

I  had  no  idea  that  Benton  could  grow  old  until  I  saw 
"Gratz  Brown"  assist  him  to  the  platform.  Benton  de- 
scribed his  travels  in  Missouri,  and  said  of  his  enemies, 
"I  have  laid  them  out  like  milestones  on  my  way."  In 
describing  his  visit  to  Independence  he  said,  "the  first 
man  called  upon  was  Branson,  Benton 's  friend,  and  he 
was  present  and  took  the  seat  of  honor  on  Benton 's  right 
hand." 

He  described  one  of  his  enemies  as  the  "man  whose 
patronymic  signifies  the  smallest  particle  of  bread  ; ' '  an- 
other,'"whose  name  calls  to  mind  an  infant  sheep;" 
alluded  to  another  by  the  name  of  Birch  and  said,  "he 
aspires  to  fill  Benton 's  seat,  as  well  might  a  tumble-bug 
aspire  to  fill  the  seat  of  an  elephant." 

The  hour  for  the  steamboat's  departure  having  ar- 
rived, we  took  off  our  hats  to  him  just  as  he  delivered 
a  terrible  philippic  against  his  enemies,  saying,  "the 
history  of  the  world  shows  two  crops  of  antis — Anti- 
Benton  and  Anti-Christ;"  and  as  we  returned  to  Alton 


ORGANIZATION  OF  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  77 

we  concluded  that  no  one  had  a  better  right  to  be  an 
egotist  than  Benton  had. 

In  1856,  Colonel  Benton  was  prevailed  upon  by  his 
friends  to  allow  the  use  of  his  name  as  a  candidate  for 
governor  of  Missouri. 

He  was  not  elected ;  Trusten  Polk,  Democrat,  re- 
ceived 46,903  votes ;  Robert  C.  Ewing,  American, 
40,589,  and  Thomas  H.  Benton,  Independent,  27,618. 

Trusten  Polk  was  afterwards  senator  in  the  con- 
federate congress  from  the  State  of  Missouri. 

In  August,  1856,  Mr.  W.  C.  Phillips  appeared  in  Car- 
linville,  and  was  desirous  of  establishing  a  Republican 
newspaper.  After  some  negotiations  Mr.  Pittman,  my 
law  partner,  and  I  agreed  to  give  our  notes  to  an  old 
firm,  which  has  long  ceased  to  exist  (Ladew  &  Peers), 
and  gave  Mr.  Phillips  besides  one  hundred  dollars  to 
buy  such  fixtures  as  he  might  select  and  would  be 
necessary  for  the  establishment  of  a  weekly  paper. 

We  gave  our  notes,  due  at  three  and  six  months  for 
five  hundred  dollars  each,  and  we  paid  them. 

As  Mr.  Phillips  was  in  haste  to  start  his  paper,  the 
first  issue  was  on  September  6,  1856. 

The  paper  was  to  be  entitled  "The  Free  Democrat." 
In  December,  1856,  Mr.  H.  M.  Kimball  came  to  Carlin- 
ville  from  Kansas,  to  which  territory  he  had  been  an 
emigrant  under  the  Beecher  regime,  and  was  for  some 
time  in  partnership  with  Mr.  Phillips,  until  Mr.  Phillips 
was  succeeded  by  Major  A.  "W.  Edwards.  The  paper  is 
still  in  existence  under  the  name  of  "The  Democrat," 
published  by  the  Macoupin  Printing  Company,  of  which 
Mr.  A.  G.  David  is  the  principal  stockholder. 


78  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Nominated  for  Congress  by  the  Republicans — Defeated — Platform  of 
the  Republican  party — Decatur  convention — Elector  at  large — 
Chicago  national  convention — Nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln— Inter- 
view with  the  New  Jersey  delegation. 

I  continued  the  practice  of  my  profession  during  the 
early  months  of  1858-9,  and  was  surprised  when  on  Sep- 
tember 29,  1859,  the  Republican  convention  nominated 
me  unanimously  for  the  house  of  representatives  in  con- 
gress. The  convention  having  adopted  a  platform  which 
was  entirely  satisfactory  to  me,  I  accepted  the  nomi- 
nation. 

The  platform  is  that  which  I  give  below : 

"Resolved,  that  we  reaffirm  the  platform  of  the  national 
Republican  convention  held  at  Philadelphia,  and  the 
state  Republican  conventions  held  at  Bloornington  and 
Springfield,  and  renew  our  devotion  to  the  principles 
therein  enunciated,  both  because  experience  demonstrates 
them  to  be  the  true  principles  of  our  republican  govern- 
ment, and  because  they  have  been  rendered  politically 
'sacred'  by  being  advocated  and  practiced  by  the  most  il- 
lustrious of  our  revolutionary  fathers,  as  well  as  modern 
statesmen. 

"Resolved,  that  the  territories  of  the  United  States 
are  the  common  property  of  all  the  free  white  citizens  of 
the  whole  Union,  but  that  the  institution  of  slavery  has 
no  right  or  heritage  therein,  and  that  it  is  the  right  and 
duty  of  congress  to  follow  the  example  of  Jefferson  and 
the  founders  of  our  government  in  prohibiting  the  ex- 
tension of  slavery  into  the  territories,  but  at  the  same 
time  we  strenuously  oppose  every  attempt  to  interfere 
with  slavery  in  the  states  where  it  now  exists. 

"Resolved,  that  freedom  is  universal,  and  slavery  sec- 
tional, and  cannot  exist  where  it  is  not  authorized  by 


NATIONAL  CONVENTION  AT  CHICAGO.  79 

special  legislation,  and  the  government  of  the  United 
States  in  the  exercise  of  its  powers,  whether  executive, 
legislative  or  judicial,  is  bound  to  adhere  in  substance  and 
form  to  the  generous  and  noble  spirit  of  these  important 
maxims. 

"Resolved,  that  we  pledge  our  unremitting  efforts  to 
prevent  the  reopening  of  the  African  slave  trade  so  ar- 
rogantly demanded  by  many  Democratic  papers  and 
politicians. 

"Resolved,  that  we  are  opposed  to  the  self-styled 
Democracy  which  allows  the  public  lands  to  be  monopo- 
lized by  speculators  and  capitalists,  and  are  in  favor  of 
their  free  occupation  by  actual  settlers  in  limited  quanti- 
ties, as  proposed  by  the  Republicans  in  the  last  con- 
gress, and  voted  down  by  the  so-called  Democracy. 

"Resolved,  that  the  reckless  disregard  of  the  rights  of 
naturalized  citizens,  by  the  administration  of  James  Buch- 
anan, as  exhibited  in  the  letter  of  General  Cass  to  Mr.  Le- 
Clerc,  calls  for  our  unqualified  reprobation,  and  that  we 
claim  for  every  citizen,  whether  native  or  adopted,  from 
whom  we  exact  allegiance,  protection  at  home  and  abroad.''1 

On  the  day  before  the  Republican  convention  met,  the 
Democratic  convention  had  assembled  and  nominated 
Colonel  (now  General)  John  A.  McClernand  for  the  same 
office.  The  fact  of  my  nomination  was  communicated 
to  me  on  the  following  day  (30th) ,  and  as  there  was  no 
possibility  of  an  election  I  accepted  the  nomination. 

General  McClernand  had  been  one  of  the  original  op- 
ponents of  the  test  proposed  by  Mr.  Douglas  of  party 
orthodoxy.  I  immediately  proceeded  to  make  a  canvass, 
and  think  I  visited  every  county  in  the  district. 

I  spoke  at  Winchester,  Scott  county,  on  October  llth  ; 
on  the  12th,  at  Petersburg  ;  on  the  13th,  at  Jacksonville  ; 
at  Jerseyville  on  the  14th ;  Carrollton  on  the  15th,  and 
at  Shelbyville  on  the  19th,  where  I  received  information 
that  John  Brown  had  invaded  Virginia  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
which  produced  such  a  sensation  as  cannot  be  under- 
stood, and  reversed  the  vote  of  the  district. 


80  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

I  had  expected  to  be  beaten  by  one  or  two  thousand 
votes.  I  reminded  the  people  of  Shelby  county  that  the 
compromise  measure  of  1850,  to  which  all  were  pledged, 
fully  justified  my  prediction  that  the  repeal  of  the  com- 
promise of  1820  would  endanger  the  perpetuity  and 
peace  of  the  Union. 

By  this  time  Colonel  McClernand  was  fully  committed 
to  the  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty,  under  which 
slavery  was  to  be  introduced  into  all  the  territories,  and 
I  made  some  impression  on  my  hearers,  but  still  I  failed 
to  carry  one  county  in  the  district.  Colonel  McClernand 
beat  me  more  than  four  thousand  votes.  My  fellow- 
citizeus  still  retained  their  confidence  in  me  as  a  lawyer, 
and  my  republicanism  did  not  injure  me  professionally. 

The  Republican  State  Convention  was  held  in  Deca- 
tur  on  May  9,  1860 ;  I  attended  the  convention  as  a 
delegate  from  Macoupin  county.  After  a  spirited  con- 
test between  Richard  Yates,  Leonard  Swett,  and  Nor- 
man B.  Judd  for  candidate  for  governor,  Richard  Yates 
received  the  nomination,  and  Francis  A.  Hoffman  for 
lieutenant-governor;  Ozias  M.  Hatch,  for  secretary  of 
state ;  Jesse  K.  Du  Bois,  for  auditor,  and  William  But- 
ler, for  treasurer,  and  Newton  Bateman,  for  superin- 
tendent of  public  instruction. 

On  June  13th  of  the  same  year,  the  Democratic  State 
Convention  was  held  in  Springfield,  at  which  James  C. 
Allen  was  nominated  as  a  candidate  for  governor,  Lewis 
W.  Ross,  for  lieutenant-governor.  The  canvass  was 
conducted  by  the  candidates  for  governor  and  lieuten- 
ant-governor, and  the  Republicans  succeeded  in  the  elec- 
tion, Mr.  Yates  having  received  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-two thousand  one  hundred  and  ninety-six  (172,196) 
and  Mr.  Allen  one  hundred  and  fifty-nine  thousand  two 
hundred  and  fifty-eight  (159,258)  votes.  It  is  notice- 
able that  my  old  friend,  Major  B.  T.  Burke,  was  nomi- 
nated by  the  Buchanan  Democracy  of  the  state  and  re- 
ceived two  thousand  and  twenty-two  (2,022)  votes. 

The   Seward  men  in  the  Decatur  convention  resisted 


NATIONAL  CONVENTION  AT  CHICAGO.  81 

instructions  to  the  delegates  to  the  national  convention 
for  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  finally  consented  that  they  be  in- 
structed to  vote  as  a  unit  for  him. 

The  National  Republican  Convention  was  held  in 
Chicago,  on  May  16th,  and  resulted  in  the  nomination 
of  Lincoln  for  president  on  the  third  ballot,  and  Han- 
nibal Hamlin  for  vice-president.  Undoubtedly,  Judge 
David  Davis  and  Norman  B.  Judd  contributed  most  to 
the  nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln  ;  they  were  indefatigable 
in  their  efforts  to  secure  his  nomination.  In  one  instance, 
Judge  Davis  visited  the  New  Jersey  delegation,  and  re- 
ported to  me  that  he  had  found  that  the  New  Jersey 
delegation  were  insisting  that  Seward  should  have  the 
first  place  on  the  ticket  and  Lincoln  the  second,  and 
asked  me  to  go  and  see  them.  I  did  not  know  what  I 
could  do  to  aid  the  judge,  but  determined  upon  my  line 
of  conversation  while  on  the  way.  When  introduced  to 
the  delegation,  they  suggested  that  Mr.  Seward  be  nom- 
inated for  the  presidency,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  be  given  the 
vice-presidency,  when  I  told  them  that  there  were  forty 
thousand  Democrats  who  would  vote  the  Republican 
ticket,  but  who  would  not  consent  to  do  so  if  two  old 
Whigs  were  placed  upon  the  ticket.  Judge  Davis  was 
asked  if  there  was  as  much  party  feeling,  as  much  preju- 
dice, in  the  minds  of  the  Democratic-Republicans  as  I 
had  represented.  And  he  replied,  "Oh!  Oh!  these  old 
Loco-focos  will  do  anything!"  I  said  to  them,  "You 
must  take  a  Democrat  for  one  of  these  offices."  And  in 
that  way  we  escaped  the  responsibility  of  two  old  Whig 
party  men  being  placed  upon  the  ticket ;  and  thus  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  Mr.  Seward  were  brought  face  to  face  as 
candidates  for  the  presidency.  Lincoln  succeeded,  and 
Hannibal  Hamlin,  of  Maine,  originally  a  Democrat,  was 
nominated  for  the  vice-presidency. 

The  convention  adopted  the  following  platform  :  "Re- 
solved, that  we,  the  delegated  representatives  of  the  Re- 
publican electors  of  the  United  States  in  convention  as- 
6 


82  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

sembled,  in  discharge  of  the  duty  we  owe  to  our  con- 
stituents and  our  country,  unite  in  the  following  declara- 
tions : 

"1.  That  the  history  of  the  nation  during  the  last 
four  years  has  fully  established  the  propriety  and  neces- 
sity of  the  organization  and  perpetuation  of  the  Repub- 
lican party,  and  that  the  causes  which  called  it  into  exist- 
ence are  permanent  in  their  nature,  and  now  more  than 
ever  before  demand  its  peaceful  and  constitutional 
triumph.  .  .  ." 

"3.  That  to  the  union  of  the  states,  this  nation  owes 
its  unprecedented  increase  in  population  ;  its  surprising 
development  of  material  resources  and  its  rapid  aug- 
mentation of  wealth ;  its  happiness  at  home  and  its 
honor  abroad ;  and  we  hold  in  abhorrence  all  schemes 
for  disunion,  from  whatever  source  they  may  come,  and 
we  congratulate  the  country  that  no  Republican  mem- 
ber of  congress  has  uttered  or  countenanced  the  threats 
of  disunion  so  often  made  by  Democratic  members  with- 
out rebuke,  and  with  applause  from  their  political  asso- 
ciates. And  we  denounce  those  threats  of  disunion  in 
case  of  a  popular  overthrow  of  their  ascendancy  as 
denying  the  vital  principles  of  free  government,  and  as 
an  avowal  contemplated  of  treason,  which  it  is  the  im- 
perative duty  of  a  free  people  sternly  to  rebuke  and  for- 
ever silence." 

The  convention  then  passed  a  resolution  committing 
its  members  to  the  doctrine  that  "the  maintenance  in- 
violate of  the  rights  of  the  states,  and  especially  each 
state  to  order  and  control  its  own  domestic  institutions 
according  to  its  own  judgment  exclusively,  is  essential 
to  that  balance  of  power  on  which  the  perfection  and  en- 
durance of  our  political  fabric  depends.  And  we  de- 
nounce the  lawless  invasion  by  armed  force  of  any  state 
or  territory,  no  matter  upon  what  pretext,  as  amongst 
the  gravest  of  crimes.  .  .  ." 

"7.  That  the  new  dogma,  that  the  constitution  of  its 
own  force  carries  slavery  into  any  or  all  of  the  terri- 


NATIONAL  CONVENTION  AT  CHICAGO.  83 

tories  of  the  United  States,  is  a  dangerous  political 
heresy — at  variance  with  the  explicit  provisions  of  that 
instrument  itself,  with  contemporaneous  exposition,  and 
with  legislative  and  judicial  precedent,  is  revolutionary 
in  its  tendency  and  is  subversive  of  the  peace  and  har- 
mony of  the  country.  .  .  ." 

"17.  Finally,  having  thus  set  forth   our  distinctive 
principles  and  views,  we  invite  the  cooperation  of  all 
citizens,  however  differing  on  other  questions,  who  sub-          \ 
stantially  agree  with  us  in  their  affirmance  and  support." 


84  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  Peace  convention — Organization — Personnel  of  the  convention — 
Amendments  proposed  to  the  constitution — Insolence  of  secession- 
ists— Call  from  Judge  Douglas. 

The  Peace  convention  which  assembled  on  February 
4,  1861,  convened  under  circumstances  of  great  political 
confusion  and  uncertainty.  It  was  organized  by  the 
election  of  Judge  Tyler,  former  President  of  the  United 
States,  as  president  of  the  convention,  Crafts  J.  Wright, 
of  Ohio,  secretary. 

The  delegates  from  Illinois,  who  were  appointed  by 
Governor  Yates,  were  John  Wood,  Stephen  T.  Logan, 
John  M.  Palmer,  Burton  C.  Cook  and  Thos.  J.  Turner. 

After  Mr.  Lincoln's  arrival  in  Washington,  he  expected 
nothing  from  the  proceedings  of  the  convention,  and  ad- 
vised us  to  deal  as  liberally  as  possible  with  the  subject 
of  slavery.  He  pointed  out  to  us  the  impossibility  of 
restoring  the  Union  without  a  struggle,  in  which  we 
concurred.  He  said,  "whatever  I  may  think  of  the 
merit  of  the  various  propositions  suggested,  I  should  re- 
gard any  concession  in  the  face  of  a  menace,  as  the  de- 
struction of  the  government  itself,  and  a  consent  on  all 
hands  that  our  system  should  be  brought  down  to  a 
level  with  the  disorganized  state  of  affairs  in  Mexico. 
But  this  thing  will  hereafter  be,  as  it  is  now,  in  the 
hands  of  the  people,  and  if  they  desire  to  call  a  conven- 
tion to  remove  any  grievances  complained  of,  or  to  give 
new  guarantees  for  the  pnrpose  of  vested  rights,  it  is  not 
mine  to  oppose." 

The  convention  consisted  of  some  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished citizens  of  the  several  states.  It  contained 
William  P.  Fessenden  and  Lot  M.  Morrill,  of  Maine  ; 
Amos  Tuck,  from  New  Hampshire  ;  L.  E.  Chittenden, 
who  reported  the  proceedings  of  the  convention,  from 


THE  PEACE  CONVENTION.  85 

Vermont ;  Geo.  S.  Boutwell,  afterwards  secretary  of  the 
treasury  in  Grant's  cabinet,  from  Massachusetts  ;  David 
Dudley  Field,  Wm.  Curtis  Noyes,  a  distinguished  law- 
yer, James  S.  Wadsworth,  who  was  killed  during  the 
civil  war  as  a  volunteer  in  the  United  States  army, 
Erastus  Corning,  Green  C.  Bronson  and  General  John 
E.  Wool,  from  New  York ;  John  Tyler,  Wm.  C.  Rives, 
the  distinguished  senator,  and  James  A.  Seddon,  after- 
wards Confederate  secretary  of  war,  from  Virginia ; 
among  others  were  George  Davis,  attorney-general 
under  the  Confederate  government ;  Daniel  M.  Bal- 
linger,  minister  to  Spain  during  Buchanan's  term ; 
Thomas  Martin,  whom  I  afterwards  met  at  Pulaski, 
Tennessee,  under  different  circumstances  ;  William  Hick- 
erson,  of  Manchester,  Tennessee,  and  General  F.  K.  Zolli- 
coffer,  who  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Mill  Springs ; 
from  Kentucky  there  was  William  0.  Butler,  candi- 
date for  vice-president  on  the  ticket  of  Cass  and  Butler ; 
James  B.  Clay  (son  of  Henry  Clay),  Joshua  F.  Bell, 
Charles  S.  Morehead,  who  had  been  governor  of  Ken- 
tucky ;  James  Guthrie,  who  had  been  secretary  of  the 
treasury,  and  Charles  A.  Wickliffe,  afterwards  governor 
of  Kentucky  ;  Salmon  P.  Chase,  afterwards  chief-justice  ; 
Thomas  Ewing,  the  great  senator  from  Ohio  ;  and  others 
equally  worthy  of  mention,  from  the  various  states. 

The  convention  recommended  that  the  following  be 
proposed  to  the  several  states  as  amendments  to  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  : 

"ART.  13,  SEC.  1.  In  all  the  present  territory  of  the 
United  States  north  of  the  parallel  of  36°  30"  north  lati- 
tude, involuntary  servitude,  except  in  punishment  of 
crime,  is  prohibited.  In  all  the  present  territory  south 
of  that  line  the  status  of  persons  held  to  involuntary  ser- 
vice or  labor  as  it  now  exists  shall  not  be  changed  ;  nor 
shall  any  law  be  passed  by  congress,  or  the  territorial 
legislature  to  hinder  or  prevent  the  taking  of  such  per- 
sons from  any  of  the  states  of  this  Union  to  said  terri- 
tory, nor  to  impair  the  rights  arising  from  said  rela- 


86  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

lation,  but  the  same  shall  be  subject  to  judicial  cogni- 
zance in  the  federal  courts  according  to  the  course  of  the 
common  law.  When  any  territory  north  or  south  of  said 
line  within  such  boundary  as  congress  may  prescribe 
shall  contain  a  population  equal  to  that  required  for  a 
member  of  congress,  it  shall,  if  its  form  of  government 
be  republican,  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  on  equal 
footing  with  the  original  states,  with  or  without  invol- 
untary servitude,  as  the  constitution  of  said  state  may 
provide. 

"SEC.  2.  No  territory  shall  be  acquired  by  the  United 
States  except  by  discovery,  and  for  naval  and  commercial 
stations,  depots  and  transit  routes,  without  the  concur- 
rence of  a  majority  of  all  the  senators  from  states  which 
allow  involuntary  servitude,  and  the  majority  of  all  the 
senators  from  states  which  prohibit  that  relation.  Nor 
shall  territory  be  acquired  by  treaty  unless  the  votes  of 
a  majority  of  the  senators  from  each  class  of  states 
hereinbefore  mentioned  be  cast  as  a  part  of  the  two-thirds 
majority  necessary  to  the  ratification  of  such  treaty. 

"SEC.  3.  Neither  the  constitution  nor  any  amend- 
ment thereof  shall  be  construed  to  give  congress  power 
to  regulate,  abolish  or  control,  within  any  state,  the 
relation  established  or  recognized  by  the  laws  thereof, 
touching  any  person  held  to  labor  or  involuntary  serv- 
ice therein,  nor  to  interfere  with  or  abolish  involuntary 
service  in  the  District  of  Columbia  without  the  con- 
sent of  Maryland  and  without  the  consent  of  the  owners, 
or  making  the  owners  who  do  not  consent  just  compen- 
sation ;  nor  the  power  to  interfere  with  or  prohibit  rep- 
resentatives and  others  from  bringing  with  them  to  the 
District  of  Columbia,  retaining  and  taking  away  persons 
so  held  to  labor  or  service ;  nor  the  power  to  interfere 
with  or  abolish  involuntary  service  in  places  under  the 
exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  within  those 
states  and  territories  where  the  same  is  established  or 
recognized ;  nor  the  power  to  prohibit  the  removal  or 


THE  PEACE  CONVENTION.  87 

transportation  of  persons  held  to  labor  or  involuntary 
service  in  any  state  or  territory  of  the  United  States  to 
any  other  state  or  territory  thereof,  where  it  is  so  estab- 
lished or  recognized  by  law  or  usage,  and  the  right  dur- 
ing transportation,  by  sea  or  river,  of  touching  at  ports, 
shores  and  landings,  and  of  landing  in  case  of  distress, 
shall  exist ;  but  not  the  right  of  transit,  in  or  through 
any  state  or  territory,  or  of  sale  or  traffic  against  the 
laws  thereof.  Nor  shall  congress  have  power  to  author- 
ize any  higher  rate  of  taxation  on  persons  held  to  labor 
or  service  than  on  land.  The  bringing  into  the  District 
of  Columbia  of  persons  held  to  labor  or  service  for  sale, 
or  placing  them  in  depots  to  be  afterwards  transferred  to 
other  places  for  sale  as  merchandise,  is  prohibited. 

"SEC.  4.  The  third  paragraph  of  the  second  section  of 
the  fourth  article  of  the  constitution  shall  not  be  con- 
strued to  prevent  any  of  the  states,  by  appropriate  legis- 
lation and  through  the  action  of  their  judicial  and  min- 
isterial officer,  from  enforcing  the  delivery  of  fugitives 
from  labor  to  the  person  to  whom  such  service  or  labor 
is  due. 

"SEC.  5.  The  foreign  slave  trade  is  hereby  forever 
prohibited  ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  congress  to  pass 
laws  to  prevent  the  importation  of  slaves,  coolies  or  per- 
sons held  to  service  or  labor  into  the  United  States  and 
the  territories  from  places  beyond  the  limits  thereof. 

"SEC.  6.  The  first,  third  and  fifth  sections,  together 
with  this  section  of  these  amendments,  and  the  third 
paragraph  of  the  second  section  of  the  first  article  of  the 
constitution,  and  the  third  paragraph  of  the  second  sec- 
tion of  the  fourth  article  thereof,  shall  not  be  amended 
or  abolished  without  the  consent  of  all  the  states. 

"SEC.  7.  Congress  shall  provide  by  law  that  the  United 
States  shall  pay  to  the  owner  the  full  value  of  his  fugi- 
tive from  labor  in  all  cases  where  the  marshal  or  other 
officers,  whose  duty  it  was  to  arrest  such  fugitive,  was 
prevented  from  so  doing  by  violence  or  intimidation  from 


88  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

mobs  or  riotous  assemblages,  or  when,  after  arrest,  such 
fugitive  was  rescued  from  like  violence  or  intimidation, 
and  the  owner  thereof  deprived  of  the  same  ;  and  the 
acceptance  of  such  payment  shall  preclude  the  owner 
from  further  claim  to  such  fugitive.  Congress  shall 
provide  by  law  for  the  securing  to  the  citizens  of  each 
state  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the 
several  states." 

On  February  22,  1861,  President  Buchanan,  at  the  re- 
quest of  John  Tyler,  president  of  the  convention,  had 
forbidden  the  troops  of  the  United  States  to  parade,  upon 
the  ground  that  "the  South"  might  regard  it  as  a  "me- 
nace." Secretary  Cobb  had  resigned  on  December  10th, 
Secretary  Lewis  Cass  had  resigned  on  the  14th,  and  sec- 
retary of  war,  John  B.  Floyd,  on  the  29th  of  that  month, 
and  secretary  of  the  interior,  Jacob  Thompson,  on  Janu- 
ary 8th. 

Alarm  continued  to  increase,  and  Ex-governor  Lowe, 
who  afterwards  left  his  state  to  engage  in  the  Rebel- 
lion, testified:  "I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  if 
Maryland  does  secede,  she  will  claim  her  rights  here, 
and  I  will  advocate  them,  peaceably,  if  possible,  forci- 
bly, only  as  a  last  resort."  And  Governor  Hicks,  of 
Maryland,  issued  an  address  to  the  people  of  that  state, 
in  which  he  said:  "I  have  been  repeatedly  warned  by 
persons  having  opportunity  to  know,  and  who  are  en- 
titled to  the  highest  confidence,  that  the  secession  lead- 
ers in  Maryland  have  resolved  that  the  border  states, 
and  especially  Maryland,  shall  be  precipitated  into  se- 
cession with  the  cotton  states  before  the  4th  of  March." 

The  secessionists  had  resolved  that  Mr.  Lincoln  should 
never  be  inaugurated,  and  the  peace  convention  con- 
ceded to  them  all  that  was  required,  except  the  prohi- 
bition of  slavery  north  of  latitude  36°  30".  We  knew 
then  that  Mr.  Lincoln  would  be  inaugurated  on  March 
4th,  and  the  country  could  depend  upon  his  prudence. 

I  told  Mr.  Lincoln,  before  I  left  Washington,  "that  I 
would  have  to  go  into  the  army,  in  order  to  prove, 


THE  PEACE  CONVENTION.  89 

after  voting  for  the  proposed  amendments  to  the  consti- 
tution, that  I  was  a  sincere  anti-slavery  man." 

Mr.  Yulee  (senator  from  Florida)  had  written  to  the 
legislature  of  his  state:  "I  think  by  the  4th  of  March 
all  the  Southern  States  will  be  out,  except,  perhaps, 
Kentucky  and  Missouri,  and  they  will  soon  have  to  fol- 
low. A  strong  government  of  eight  states,  promptly  or- 
ganized, with  Jeff  Davis  general-in-chief ,  will  bring  them 
to  a  realizing  sense  of  the  gravity  of  the  crisis.  I  shall 
give  the  enemy  a  shot  next  week  before  retiring ;  I  say 
enemy,  and  yet  I  am  theirs  and  they  are  mine.  I  am 
willing  to  be  their  master,  but  not  their  brother." 

This  was  the  spirit  manifested  by  the  secessionists 
when  the  so-called  Peace  convention  assembled.  John 
B.  Floyd  had  already  armed  the  south  by  placing  the 
government  arms  in  its  hands,  and  at  the  time  of  the 
assembling  of  the  "Peace  convention,  and  adjournment, 
the  Rebellion  was  in  the  full  tide  of  experiment." 

I  have  already  stated  the  substance  of  the  quarrel  be- 
tween Judge  Douglas  and  myself,  in  1854,  while  I  was 
a  candidate  for  state  senator  against  Major  Burke.  I 
reached  Washington  on  February  3,  1861,  and  the  first 
person  who  sent  his  card  to  my  room  at  "Willard's" 
was  "Stephen  A.  Douglas."  I  invited  him  to  my  room, 
and  he  came  in,  extended  his  hand,  which  I  grasped, 
and  he  said  :  "I  have  beaten  you  long  ago,  and  you  at 
last  have  beaten  me  ;  according  to  your  own  limitation 
we  are  friends  again."  I  expressed  my  satisfaction  at 
meeting  him  again,  and  we  consulted  for  half  an  hour. 
He  said  to  me  :  "You  and  your  friends  did  me  great  in- 
justice in  the  Lecompton  controversy.  If  I  had  had 
my  way,  and  Buchanan  had  not  been  a  traitor,  I  would 
have  compelled  Davis  to  raise  the  standard  of  rebellion 
during  that  controversy,  and  then  there  would  have  been 
Union  sentiment  enough  in  the  country  to  put  him  down 
in  thirty  days  ;  but  now  this  continent  will  tremble  un- 
der the  tread  of  a  million  armed  men  before  the  Re- 


90  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

bellion  is  ended."  He  died  on  June  3,  1861,  at  the  Tre- 
mont  House,  in  Chicago.  I  have  no  doubt  but  that 
Douglas  had  splendid  military  qualities,  and  would,  like 
Baker,  have  entered  the  army.  He  could  have  had  any 
command  he  might  have  selected,  and  could  from  the 
younger  men  of  the  "old  army"  have  chosen  a  staff 
which  would  have  assured  him  success. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  14TH  ILLINOIS  REGIMENT.          91 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Visits  to  Cairo — Visits  to  Cincinnati — Anna — Douglas — Visits  from  a 
Kentucky  colonel — Muster  regiment  for  sixth  congressional  dis- 
trict— Organization  of  14th  Illinois — Promoted  to  brigadier-general — 
In  command  at  Otterville — New  Madrid — Riddle's  Point — First 
sight  of  gunboats — Colored  preacher. 

On  April  18,  1861,  I  was  with  Mason  Brayman,  Hall 
Wilson  and  General  John  A.  McClernand  appointed  to 
go  to  Cairo  and  the  southern  part  of  the  state,  and 
ascertain  the  condition  of  public  sentiment  with  regard 
to  the  rebellion.  We  visited  Cairo  and  found  public 
feeling  favorable  to  the  proposition  that  Cairo  should  be 
declared  and  treated  as  a  neutral  city,  where  all  parties 
should  buy  and  sell  at  their  discretion — so  little  was 
known  of  the  magnitude  of  the  civil  war  that  was  then 
impending.  I  took  the  train  on  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  and  came  back  to  Anna,  and  there  met  Union 
men  and  told  them  of  my  mission,  and  there  joined 
other  members  of  the  commission.  In  the  afternoon 
of  April  22d,  I  met  a  few  members  of  the  legislature 
from  neighboring  counties  who  were  going  to  Spring- 
field, having  been  convened  by  the  governor  to  "meet  in 
special  session  on  April  23,  1861." 

Soon  after  I  came  on  the  train,  one  member  of  the 
legislature  handed  me  a  scheme  which  proposed  the 
division  of  the  state  upon  the  line  of  the  National  road 
which  passed  through  Vandalia,  and  permitting  the 
south  part  of  the  state  to  join  the  Confederacy.  I  told 
him  that  he  would  find  himself  in  jail  if  he  urged  such 
a  scheme  seriously.  I  reached  Springfield  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  twenty-third,  and  heard  Douglas  make  that 
incomparable  speech  which  gave  so  much  comfort  to 
the  Union  people,  and  the  eloquence  of  which  thrilled 
the  whole  country. 


92  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

On  April  twenty-fourth  I  started  with  Colonel  Ben- 
jamin Prentiss  with  seven  companies  of  the  10th  Illinois 
Infantry  to  Cairo.  On  the  way  we  saw  General  Swift's 
men  at  the  Big  Muddy  and  at  Cairo.  The  troops  we 
took  with  us  were  encamped  about  the  city.  It  may  be 
observed,  as  an  illustration  of  the  delicacy  of  the  situa- 
tion, that  a  colonel  of  militia  from  Kentucky  called 
upon  Colonel  Prentiss  soon  after  our  arrival  and  asked 
why  "Cairo  was  occupied  by  the  troops  of  the  State  of 
Illinois?"  General  Prentiss  replied,  "We  occupy  Cairo 
to  defend  the  Union ;  Cairo  belongs  to  Illinois,  and  we 
will  hold  it  till  hell  freezes  over." 

I  returned  to  Springfield,  and  was  then  requested  by 
Governor  Yates  to  visit  General  George  B.  McClellan, 
whose  headquarters  were  in  Cincinnati.  After  reaching 
Cincinnati  I  met  General  McClellan,  and  we  discussed 
the  importance  of  Cairo  and  its  military  value,  and  he 
approved  all  that  the  governor  had  done.  I  returned  to 
St.  Louis  on  the  day  before  Camp  Jackson  was  captured. 
I  met  Frank  Blair  and  was  let  into  the  secret  that 
"Camp  Jackson  was  to  be  attacked  and  captured  the 
next  day."  I  came  home  to  Carlinville  and  heard  of  its 
capture  with  all  of  its  equipments,  which  was  the  means 
of  preserving  Missouri  to  the  Union. 

The  legislature  at  its  April  session  had  made  provision 
and  enacted  laws  for  a  more  perfect  equipment  of  the 
militia  and  of  devising  means  to  render  efficient  assist- 
ance to  the  government  in  preserving  the  Union,  en- 
forcing the  laws  and  protecting  the  rights  of  the  people. 

The  legislature  passed  an  act  creating  ten  regiments, 
one  from  each  congressional  district  that  the  state  con- 
tained, and  one  from  the  state  at  large.  When  I  reached 
my  home  at  Carlinville  I  learned  that  I  had  been  elected 
colonel  of  the  sixth  congressional  district  regiment,  which 
was  ordered  to  assemble  at  Jacksonville,  Morgan  county. 
It  was  composed  of  one  company  each  from  the  counties 
of  Cass,  Christian,  Greene,  Morgan,  Macoupin,  Menard, 
Jersey,  Scott,  Sangamon  and  Shelby.  The  regimental 


ORGANIZATION  OF  14TH  ILLINOIS  REGIMENT.          93 

officers  were  Lieutenant-Colonel  Amory  K.  Johnson  and 
Major  Jonathan  Morris ;  and  Captains,  Thomas  M. 
Thompson,  from  Cass,  Co.  A  ;  Cyrus  Hall,  from  Shelby, 
Co.  B  ;  A.  H.  Cornman,  from  Macoupin,  Co.  C  ;  Thomas 
J.  Bryant,  from  Greene,  Co.  D  ;  Frederic  Mead,  from 
Menard,  Co.  E  ;  Louis  C.  Reiner,  from  Sangamon,  Co. 
G ;  Milton  S.  Littlefield,  from  Jersey,  Co.  F ;  John  W. 
Meacham,  from  Morgan,  Co.  I ;  Andrew  Simpson,  from 
Christian,  Co.  H;  Wm.  Camm,  from  Scott,  Co.  K. 

On  May  15th  I  took  command  of  the  regiment,  and  on 
the  twenty-fifth  of  the  same  month,  under  the  orders  of 
Governor  Yates,  we  were  mustered  into  the  service  of 
the  United  States  by  Captain  Thomas  C.  Pitcher  for 
three  years,  unless  sooner  discharged.  We  remained  in 
camp  until  some  time  in  the  month  of  June,  and  took 
part  in  the  public  funeral  of  Douglas,  and  were  after- 
wards removed  to  Quincy,  Illinois,  and  took  part  in  the 
Fourth  of  July  exercises  in  that  city.  On  the  morning 
of  the  5th  of  July,  we  were  ordered  to  Canton,  Missouri. 
A  man  named  Sowers  had  killed  Captain  Howell,  an  in- 
ternal revenue  officer,  and  we  were  called  on  to  arrest 
him.  We  arrested  Sowers  ;  also,  James  S.  Green,  a  sen- 
ator from  Missouri,  whom  I  had  heard  in  Washington  in 
February,  1861,  in  reply  to  Senator  Douglas,  in  which 
speech  he  gave  the  extreme  Southern  view  of  the  subject 
of  slavery.  Mr.  Green  was  an  intellectual  man,  full  of 
resources,  and  answered  Douglas  as  far  as  could  be  done 
from  the  standpoint  which  he  occupied. 

From  Canton  I  expected  to  return  to  Quincy  and  re- 
sume camp  duties,  but  in  the  meantime  the  rebels  had 
surrounded  Colonel  Robert  Smith,  of  the  16th  Illinois 
Infantry,  at  Monroe,  Missouri,  and  the  regiment  was 
ordered  to  Hannibal,  Missouri,  and  proceeded  by  way  of 
that  place  to  Palmyra  and  to  Monroe,  and  the  14th  Regi- 
ment never  returned  to  Quincy,  but  was  ordered  to 
Brookville,  and  then  returned  to  Macon,  on  the  North 
Missouri  Railroad,  from  which  place  we  went  to  Stur- 
geon, leaving  a  battalion  at  Renick. 


94  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

On  the  31st  of  July,  1861,  I  was  at  Sturgeon,  and  ob- 
tained leave  of  absence  to  go  home  ;  arrived  there  on  the 
2d  day  of  August ;  remained  a  few  days,  and  rejoined 
my  regiment  at  Jefferson  Barracks,  Missouri. 

On  the  llth  day  of  August,  the  battle  of  Wilson  Creek 
having  occurred  on  the  10th,  I  was  ordered  to  go  to 
Holla,  Missouri,  meet  the  returning  force,  and  cover  the 
retreat  of  General  Siegel,  who  had  retired  from  the  battle- 
field of  Wilson  Creek.  We  arrived  at  Holla  on  the  llth 
of  August,  and,  with  the  exception  of  occasional  runs 
into  the  country,  remained  there  until  October,  covering 
the  country.  In  October,  we  returned  to  Franklin,  and 
proceeded  to  Jefferson  City,  and  finally  to  Tipton,  Mis- 
souri. We  then  proceeded  to  make  the  Springfield  cam- 
paign ;  we  encamped  at  Otterville  until  February,  1862, 
when  all  the  troops  were  ordered  from  Otterville,  Smith- 
ton  and  Sedalia,  and  other  points  on  the  railroad,  to  the 
Tennessee  river,  to  reenforce  General  Grant.  I  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  rank  of  brigadier-general  on  December, 
20,  1861,  and  was  assigned  by  General  Pope  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  post  at  Otterville. 

On  January  1,  1862,  I  was  in  command  of  the  post  of 
Otterville,  which  place  was  also  the  headquarters  of 
General  John  Pope,  who  commanded  a  district  with 
rather  indefinite  boundaries.  There  was  really  at  that 
time  nothing  for  an  army  to  do  in  Central  Missouri  ;  a 
small  mounted  force  was  no  doubt  necessary  to  scour  the 
country,  keep  down  the  ill-organized  rebel  forces  which 
were  disturbing  the  public  peace  and  stirring  up  disorder, 
inflicting  about  as  much  injury  upon  their  real  or  re- 
puted friends  as  upon  their  enemies,  and  were  the  nucleus 
of  those  bands  that  later  were  the  scourge  of  Central  and 
Western  Missouri.  In  fact,  the  borders  of  Missouri  and 
Kansas  had  been,  from  a  time  which  commenced  before 
the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  infested  with  lawless 
men,  known  as  Red-legs  and  Jayhawkers,  on  the  one 
side,  and  Border-ruffians,  and  other  like  names,  on  the 
other. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  14TH  ILLINOIS  REGIMENT.          95 

The  crimes  of  these  lawless  men  had  demoralized  so- 
ciety and  prepared  such  men  as  Quantrell,  Todd  and 
Anderson,  and  also  created  for  them  the  desperate  fol- 
lowers who  ravaged  the  country,  and,  upon  any  pretext, 
murdered  and  robbed,  at  their  discretion.  This  condi- 
tion of  things  produced  leaders  for  the  Union  men  who 
did  them  no  credit,  unless  they  were  useful  to  fight  the 
Missouri  borderers  by  methods  and  in  a  spirit  resembling 
their  own.  The  names  of  Lane  and  Jennison  and  Mont- 
gomery are  still  mentioned  with  bitter  execrations. 
Enough  is  known  of  the  horrors  of  the  border  warfare 
to  justify  the  belief,  that  no  spot  on  earth  was  ever  cursed 
with  more  desperate  and  lawless  men  than  those  who 
carried  on  a  ruthless,  predatory  warfare  on  both  sides  of 
the  line  which  divides  Kansas  and  Missouri. 

I  watched  the  growth  of  this  reckless  spirit,  and  ad- 
vised, to  the  extent  of  my  supposed  right  to  speak,  that 
early  steps  be  taken  to  drive  these  men  from  the  States 
of  Missouri  and  Kansas,  and  something  was  done  in  that 
direction,  but  the  work  was  not  fully  accomplished,  and 
the  important  and  more  decisive  operations  of  armies  in 
Western  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  President  and  the  war  department,  and  Missouri 
and  Kansas  were  in  a  measure  overlooked  and  neglected. 

On  January  1,  1862,  the  Rebel  army  occupied  Bowling 
Green,  Kentucky,  with  troops  pushed  forward  nearly  to 
Louisville.  They  had  all  western  Kentucky  and  Ten- 
nessee, occupied  Fort  Henry  on  the  Tennessee  river,  and 
Fort  Donelson  on  the  Cumberland.  In  the  latter  part  of 
January,  General  Grant  commenced  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant campaigns  of  the  war,  in  which  by  the  middle 
of  February  he  had  captured  both  Forts  Henry  and 
Donelson,  forced  Albert  Sidney  Johnston  to  evacuate  all 
the  points  held  by  the  Rebels  in  Kentucky,  and  finally 
abandon  Nashville  and  Middle  Tennessee  ;  and  appear- 
ances indicated  that  the  spring  campaign  would  be 
active  and  possibly  decisive. 

All  of  the  troops  around  Otterville  and  Sedalia,  and  at 


96  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

other  points  in  the  vicinity,  were  ordered  to  move  at 
once,  by  rail  and  quick  marches  to  St.  Louis,  and  thence 
south,  to  join  the  forces  under  General  Grant.  I  left 
Otterville  for  St.  Louis,  and  upon  leave  of  absence, 
visited  my  family  at  Carlinville  for  a  few  days,  and  then 
proceeded  to  Cairo  and  reported  to  General  Pope,  whose 
headquarters  were  on  a  steamboat,  which  the  next  day 
went  up  the  river  to  Commerce,  some  forty  miles  above, 
and  then  a  few  days  were  spent  in  preparations  for  sub- 
sequent operations  against  New  Madrid  and  Island  No. 
10,  on  the  Mississippi  river. 

I  was  assigned  by  General  Pope  to  the  command  of  a 
division  consisting  of  the  34th,  43d,  46th,  47th  and  59th 
Indiana  regiments  of  infantry,  that  were  at  the  time  I  as- 
sumed command,  at  Benton,  about  ten  miles  west  of 
Commerce.  These  regiments  were  strong  in  numbers, 
and  were  commanded  by  Colonels  Ryan,  McLean,  Fitch, 
Slack  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Scott,  respectively.  We 
had  been  but  a  few  days  in  Benton,  until  orders  were  re- 
ceived to  march  to  New  Madrid,  which  was  occupied  by 
the  Rebel  forces.  They  also  held  Island  No.  10,  which 
was  fortified,  and  as  was  thought,  commanded  the  pass- 
age of  the  Mississippi  river.  We  reached  the  vicinity  of 
New  Madrid  on  March  1st,  advanced  and  reconnoitered 
the  Rebel  defenses.  I  had  here  my  first  experience  in 
the  business  of  serious  warfare.  The  enemy's  works  at 
New  Madrid  were  in  themselves  well  constructed,  but 
like  all  works  of  the  kind  on  the  Mississippi  river,  were 
built  on  a  plain  easily  observed  and  turned. 

Our  troops  soon  occupied  Point  Pleasant,  which  with 
artillery  commanded  the  river,  and  early  made  New 
Madrid  untenable,  and  the  Rebels  abandoned  it.  After 
its  evacuation  I  was  ordered  with  my  division  to  move 
down  the  river  to  Riddle's  Point.  The  road  to  this 
place  led  down  the  river  for  much  of  the  distance  near 
the  banks,  and  from  the  high  state  of  the  water  the  Rebel 
gunboats  commanded  it  with  their  guns ;  the  water 
covered  the  bottom  too,  so  that  it  was  dangerous  to  leave 


ORGANIZATION  OF  14TH  ILLINOIS  REGIMENT.          97 

the  road,  which  was  also  for  the  greater  portion  of  the 
distance  flooded,  often  to  the  depth  of  three  feet. 

The  danger  of  suffering  from  the  fire  of  the  gunboats 
made  it  necessary  to  make  the  march  at  night.  We  left 
New  Madrid  on  the  evening  of  March  16th,  and  hauled 
with  us  a  twenty-four  pound  iron  gun  and  ammunition 
wagon,  and  reached  Point  Pleasant  in  the  evening  of  the 
17th,  soon  after  sunrise,  after  wading  half  the  distance. 

In  the  afternoon  of  that  day  we  marched  about  five 
miles  to  a  point  opposite  Tiptonville,  Tennessee,  and 
during  the  night  constructed  an  earthwork  on  the  bank 
of  the  river  for  the  protection  of  the  gun,  and  flanked 
the  works  with  rifle-pits  dug  in  the  sand,  sufficient  for 
the  protection  of  a  regiment.  The  gun  was  in  charge  of 
a  detachment  of  Iowa  volunteer  artillerists,  and  the  47th 
Indiana  were  placed  in  a  position  for  the  occupancy  of 
the  rifle-pits  when  necessary. 

The  point  occupied  by  these  troops  was  one  of  singular 
loveliness  ;  around  the  position  was  a  peach  orchard  in 
full  bloom,  and  in  the  rear  were  the  undulations  in  the 
surface  made  by  the  great  earthquakes  of  1818,  follow- 
ing each  other  in  almost  regular  succession  at  short  dis- 
tances. The  narrow  elevations  with  corresponding  de- 
pressions formed  a  natural  protection  for  troops  at 
supporting  distances  from  the  earthworks  and  the  rifle- 
pits,  while  the  river,  here  confined  within  its  banks  on 
both  sides,  flowed  south  in  a  rapid  but  smooth  current. 

On  the  morning  of  March  18th,  word  was  received  at 
the  battery  that  several  Rebel  gunboats  were  steaming 
up  the  river,  and  would  soon  be  in  sight.  I  must  pause 
in  the  story  long  enough  to  describe  the  scene  as  it  ap- 
peared to  me  soon  afterwards,  when  I  caught  sight  of 
the  leading  gunboat  around  the  bend  below.  The  course 
of  the  river  at  that  point  was  from  north  to  south,  and 
the  little  town  of  Tiptonville  was  directly  opposite  to  us 
on  the  east  side  of  the  river  ;  the  sun  shone  brightly,  and 
the  reflection  of  its  rays  upon  the  water  gave  it  an  ap- 


98  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

pearance  of  clearness  and  depth  which  was  delightful ; 
and  just  below  were  trees  beginning  to  show  their  leaves, 
while  in  the  rear  were  a  few  farm  buildings,  and  at  a 
small  distance  was  the  orchard  of  the  magnificent  dis- 
play of  peach  blossoms  of  which  I  have  spoken,  and  in 
and  around  it  and  near  the  line  of  rifle-pits  were  soldiers 
looking  upon  the  coming  fleet  of  gunboats  steadily  ap- 
proaching with  the  evident  purpose  of  making  an  attack. 
We  were  then  unfamiliar  with  war  in  any  of  its  aspects, 
and  knew  nothing  of  the  character  of  the  strange  enemy 
which  by  this  time  had  increased  to  five.  The  leading 
boats,  when  a  short  distance  below  us,  for  some  reason 
threw  a  few  shots  into  the  woods,  and  then,  probably  dis- 
covering the  infantry,  moved  out  towards  the  middle  of 
the  river,  and  our  little  body  of  artillerists  fired  a  shot 
at  the  leading  boat,  which  we  could  see  struck  the  water 
ahead  of  its  object,  and  then  ricocheted  away  towards  the 
other  shore.  Then  came  the  return  short,  and  at  the 
flash  the  men  leaped  into  their  rifle-pits  and  disappeared, 
and  then  followed  shot  after  shot  from  the  guns  of  each 
of  the  boats  and  the  steady  roar  of  our  single  piece. 

Two  of  the  boats  soon  appeared  to  be  crippled,  moved 
slowly  down  the  river,  and  took  no  further  part  in  the 
combat.  Once  the  boats  moved  in  the  direction  of  the 
shore,  but  the  musketry  from  the  rifle-pits  convinced  the 
enemy  that  they  could  not  safely  land.  How  long  the 
cannonade  continued  I  cannot  tell  with  exactness,  but 
after  awhile  our  gun  ceased  firing,  and  upon  going  to  the 
battery,  I  found  the  gunners  completely  exhausted  lying 
down  beside  their  piece. 

The  gun  was  struck  near  the  muzzle,  but  not  seriously 
damaged,  and  after  a  few  more  shots  directed  towards 
the  rifle-pits,  the  enemy  started  down  the  river.  It  is 
remarkable  that,  though  more  than  a  hundred  shots 
were  fired  from  the  gunboats,  not  a  man  on  our  side  was 
injured,  nor  do  I  know  that  anyone  on  the  boats  was 
hurt.  After  that  affair  the  gunboats  of  the  pattern  then 
in  use  were  no  longer  objects  of  apprehension  to  us,  and 


ORGANIZATION  OF  14TH  ILLINOIS  REGIMENT.  99 

they  never  again  to  my  knowledge  appeared  above  Fort 
Pillow. 

A  day  or  two  afterwards,  an  Ohio  regiment  reached 
us  with  another  twenty-four  pound  gun,  and  the  two 
were  placed  at  a  point  further  down  the  river,  in  order  to 
cover  the  landing  below  Tiptonville,  and  prevent  the 
landing  of  transports  to  carry  off  the  troops  if  they 
should  attempt  to  escape  from  Island  No.  10.  Trans- 
ports frequently  attempted  to  approach  the  landing,  but 
our  artillery  fire  kept  them  away,  and  in  the  meantime 
our  gunboats  continued  to  shell  Island  No.  10  from 
above,  and  General  Pope  completed  his  preparations  to 
cross  the  river  with  his  forces  and  capture  it.  On  Sat- 
urday night,  March  19th,  Captain  Walk  with  the  gun- 
boat Carondelet  ran  past  the  Rebel  batteries  on  Island 
No.  10  without  injury,  and  appeared  on  the  river  below. 
The  passage  of  the  Rebel  batteries  by  the  Carondelet 
changed  the  whole  face  of  affairs.  On  Sunday,  he  came 
down  the  river  opposite  my  camp  and  invited  me  to 
come  aboard  and  return  with  him  up  the  river  to  New 
Madrid,  and  on  the  way  point  out  the  Rebel  batteries. 
"We  found  one  about  three  miles  above  my  camp,  and 
but  one.  It  was  a  single  twenty -four  pound  gun  pro- 
tected by  a  slight  earthwork.  The  Carondelet  was  a 
turreted  ironclad  of  a  pattern  lately  introduced,  and  we 
landsmen  for  the  first  time  witnessed  the  operations  of 
the  floating  battery  against  the  one  on  land.  The  boat 
made  quick  work  of  it.  It  moved  up  in  short  range, 
and  with  a  few  shots,. which  sent  the  earth  around  the 
ears  of  the  artillerists,  drove  them  from  their  gun. 

A  party  was  sent  ashore  to  spike  the  piece,  and  we 
went  on  our  way  up  the  river  to  New  Madrid.  The  next 
day  General  Pope  crossed  the  river  with  his  forces  and 
captured  Island  No.  10,  with  a  large  amount  of  arms,  ar- 
tillery and  a  number  of  prisoners. 

During  the  time  that  my  command  was  in  camp  at 
Riddle's  Point,  one  incident  occurred  which  first  taught 
me  the  sincerity  of  the  friendship  of  the  negroes  for  our 


100  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

armies  and  the  value  of  their  assistance,  especially  in 
minor  matters  in  a  country  like  that  in  which  we  were 
then  operating.  The  fact  has  already  been  mentioned, 
that  from  the  stage  of  the  water  in  the  Mississippi  river 
the  lowlands  in  the  bottoms  were  overflowed,  and  in  ad- 
dition to  this  the  creeks  and  sloughs  were  full,  so  that 
reconnoissances  and  scouting  parties,  necessary  to  our 
safety,  were  unable  to  move  any  considerable  distance 
without  boats  or  other  means  of  crossing  them.  The 
Rebels  had  removed  all  boats  and  skiffs  which  could  be 
found  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  I  sent  out  parties 
in  search  of  them,  and  made  extensive  inquiries,  but 
was  unable  to  find  one,  and  had  abandoned  the  expecta- 
tion of  doing  so,  when  one  night  a  colored  boy,  who  had 
escaped  from  the  Rebel  works  and  come  to  our  camp,  and 
had  guided  my  command  on  the  night  march  from  New 
Madrid  to  Point  Pleasant,  told  me  that  he  knew  a  man 
who  could  find  for  me  what  I  wanted.  I  told  him  I 
must  see  this  man,  and  then  he  left  me.  Within  an  hour 
he  brought  to  my  tent  a  negro  man,  who  seemed  anxious 
to  conceal  his  visit  to  me.  After  answering  some  ques- 
tions as  to  his  name  and  residence,  and  some  other 
matter  of  like  character,  and  inquiring  of  me  in  what  di- 
rection I  desired  to  send  my  party,  he  said  he  could  find 
such  means  of  transportation  as  the  party  needed,  but 
his  agency  in  the  matter  must  not  be  known,  and  pointed 
out  the  danger  to  himself  which  would  follow  the  dis- 
covery by  any  white  person.  The  next  day  one  of  my 
scouting  parties  found  no  difficulty  in  crossing  streams  or 
bayous.  The  necessary  means  of  crossing  were  ready 
when  needed  ;  where  they  came  from  no  one  seemed  to 
know,  and  I  was  informed  that  after  the  parties  had 
used  them  they  disappeared  as  if  by  magic. 

I  have  rarely  met  a  more  remarkable  person  than 
the  negro  referred  to  ;  his  exact  age  was  of  course  to  me 
uncertain,  but  he  seemed  to  be  approaching  middle  life. 
He  was  not  tall,  but  was  athletic ;  his  head  was  large, 
and  his  eyes  were  overhung  with  heavy  projecting  brows  ; 


ORGANIZATION  OF  14TH  ILLINOIS  REGIMENT.        1Q1 

his  manner  was  grave  almost  to  sadness.  He  was  a 
pure  negro,  beyond  doubt,  and,  as  almost  all  the  ambi- 
tious negroes  were,  he  was  a  preacher.  I  found  all  over 
the  South  that,  as  the  only  thing  resembling  a  profession 
open  to  the  slaves  was  the  ministry,  a  very  large  number 
of  them  became  preachers,  and,  by  virtue  of  the  position, 
leaders  of  their  people. 

As  a  class  the  preachers  were  regarded  with  jealousy 
by  the  slave  owners,  but  they  were  often  useful  to  them 
as  teachers  of  the  religious  duty  of  the  slave  to  obey  his 
master.  The  man  to  whom  I  refer  had  often  no  doubt  (es- 
pecially in  the  hearing  of  white  people)  preached  to  his 
race  from  the  choice  texts  of  the  slaveholder's  gospel : 
"Servants,  obey  your  masters,"  etc.,  but  he  furnished 
evidence  by  his  language,  and  more  forcibly  by  his  con- 
duct, that  the  iron  of  hopeless  servitude  had  entered  his 
soul,  and  that  he  would  be  prepared,  if  ever  the  hour 
should  come  when  it  was  necessary,  to  shed  blood  to 
rid  himself  from  bondage. 

I  occasionally  met  among  the  blacks  men  somewhat 
like  this  one,  but  none  that  I  thought  his  equal  in  craft, 
cunning,  or  capacity.  He  was  useful  while  he  remained 
in  the  neighborhood,  and  I  know  but  little  of  his  subse- 
quent history.  On  March ,  a  part  of  my  command 

was  sent  to  Tiptonville,  and  with  two  of  my  regiments, 
and  nearly  all  the  forces  commanded  by  General  Pope, 
I  descended  the  river.  The  ostensible  object  of  the 
movement  was  the  capture  of  Fort  Pillow.  We  reached 
a  point  a  few  miles  above  the  fort  with  a  fleet  of  trans- 
ports, and  after  remaining  there  two  days,  without 
landing  more  troops  than  were  necessary  to  guard  the 
boats,  orders  were  received  to  return  up  the  Mississippi 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Tennessee,  and  up  that  river  to 
Hamburg,  where  the  force  under  General  Pope  was 
landed,  and  became  the  left  wing  of  the  army,  which, 
under  Halleck,  was  then,  and  for  a  month  afterwards, 
engaged  in  digging  its  way  to  Corinth,  Mississippi. 

As  soon  as  the  forces  were  landed,  I  was  assigned  to 


102  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  command  of  a  brigade  of  the  first  division  of  the 
Army  of  the  Mississippi.  The  second  brigade  was  com- 
manded by  that  fine  soldier  Brigadier-General  James  D. 
Morgan,  and  General  E.  A.  Paine  commanded  the  di- 
vision. 

Very  soon  after  I  was  assigned  to  a  command,  I 
moved  to  the  front  slowly,  only  keeping  pace  with  the 
movements  of  the  army.  The  enemy  occupied  Corinth 
with  his  whole  army ;  we  moved  out  by  slow  marches, 
frequently  encountering  small  bodies  of  Rebel  troops 
that  were  being  driven  before  us  until  we  reached  the 
east  side  of  an  extensive  swamp  which  lay  between  us 
and  Farmington,  Mississippi,  and  probably  six  miles  from 
Corinth. 

We  remained  in  camp  a  few  days  until  the  roads 
across  the  swamp  were  constructed,  and  on  May  9th  I 
was  ordered,  with  other  troops  in  support,  to  make  a 
reconnoisance  in  the  direction  of  Corinth.  We  ad- 
vanced close  to  that  place  until  we  discovered  an  earth- 
work on  a  hill  to  our  front  and  then  fell  back  slowly. 
Soon  after  we  commenced  the  return  march,  I  discovered 
a  Rebel  force  on  both  flanks,  who  made  a  determined  ef- 
fort to  cut  us  off,  and  then  for  the  first  time  I  learned  the 
superiority  of  the  repeating  arms  such  as  we  then  pos- 
sessed, over  the  muskets  then  in  use. 

Two  companies  of  the  42d  Illinois  were  armed  with 
Colt's  revolving  rifles.  These  companies  were  placed  on 
the  flanks  of  their  regiment,  and  opened  fire  upon  the 
forces  opposed  to  us.  The  effect  of  this  rapid  firing 
caused  the  enemy  to  fall  back,  while  we  moved  forward 
and  took  a  position  on  the  hill  east  of  the  creek,  and  in 
the  direction  of  the  camp.  The  Rebels  attacked  us  with 
a  good  deal  of  earnestness  at  first,  but  as  our  forces  were 
partially  concealed,  they  were  not  willing  to  engage  us 
closely ;  they  returned  in  the  direction  of  Corinth,  and 
we  returned  to  our  camp  on  the  east  side  of  the  swamp, 
but  pickets  were  left  well  advanced  west  of  the  swamp, 
with  a  brigade  to  support  them. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  14TH  ILLINOIS  REGIMENT.        103 

The  next  day  I  was  made  general  officer  of  the  day, 
and  was  ordered  to  advance  to  Farrnington  with  my 
whole  command  and  occupy  the  village.  I  ordered  my 
command  to  move,  and  rode  forward  across  the  swamp, 
in  the  direction  of  Farmington,  to  visit  the  pickets,  as 
was  my  duty.  I  proceeded,  accompanied  by  a  single 
orderly,  and  overtook  and  passed  a  large  company  of  the 
14th  Michigan  Infantry,  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Fitzgibbon,  a  jolly  Irishman  with  whom  I  was  ac- 
quainted. This  company  was  on  the  march  to  relieve 
the  pickets  who  were  posted  on  the  west  side  of  a  cleared 
field  which  had  to  be  crossed  by  us.  I  reached  the  hol- 
low south  of  the  field,  and  had  ridden  until  I  had  got  to 
its  head,  when  I  was  fired  upon  by  a  squadron  of  Rebel 
cavalry.  I  rode  back  at  full  speed,  entered  a  hundred 
yards  ahead  of  my  pursuers,  and  reached  Fitzgibbon, 
who  with  great  presence  of  mind,  gave  them  a  volley 
which  emptied  several  saddles,  and  sent  them  away  in  a 
hurry.  I  had  barely  again  reached  the  table  land,  this 
time  accompanied  by  the  infantry,  when  I  heard  firing 
on  the  picket  line,  and  noticed  the  pickets  coming  in 
across  the  field,  and  soon  saw  infantry  skirmishers  com- 
ing out  of  the  woods  from  the  direction  of  Corinth.  I 
rode  back  to  my  brigade,  which  had  crossed  the  swamp 
and  were  well  advanced  in  the  direction  they  were  ordered 
to  move.  I  pushed  the  27th  Illinois  forward  towards 
the  point  at  which  I  had  met  Fitzgibbon,  moved  the  22d 
Illinois  to  the  front  of  a  point  of  woods  on  the  right  of 
the  27th,  moved  the  51st  Illinois  to  the  left  of  the  27th, 
and  left  one  battalion  of  the  42d  Illinois  to  cover  my 
left,  and  placed  the  other  battalion  of  the  same  regiment 
along  the  edge  of  a  wood  to  cover  my  right,  and  placed 
Hiscox's  battery  near  the  center,  to  command  a  force  of 
infantry  which  by  that  time  were  passing  east,  with  the 
apparent  purpose  of  turning  my  left. 

I  made  my  dispositions  with  much  more  composure 
and  confidence,  though  this  was  my  first  battle,  than  I 
ever  felt  on  later  fields.  I  had  four  good  regiments  of 


104  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Illinois  men,  of  an  aggregate  strength  of  some  twenty-four 
hundred  ;  I  had  a  battery  of  six  pieces — four  "Parrots" 
and  two  twelve-pound  howitzers.  I  did  not  stop  to  count 
the  enemy,  but  was  confident  of  victory.  I  proceeded  to 
ride  along  the  front  of  my  troops,  and  gave  them  the 
orders  which  veracious  history  tells  us  are  usually  given 
by  great  generals  on  the  eve  of  a  battle.  I  told  them  to 
"stand  firm,"  and  withhold  their  fire  until  they  could 
"see  the  whites  of  the  enemy's  eyes;"  to  "fire  low," 
etc.  It  is  needless  to  repeat  all  that  I  said,  as  much  of 
my  eloquence  may  be  found  in  almost  any  well-written 
military  history. 

When  the  firing  commenced,  I  had  noticed  a  force  of 
the  enemy  advancing  towards  my  right ;  I  expected  them 
to  be  met  by  the  battalion  of  the  42d  Illinois,  and  hoped 
for  support  in  that  direction  from  a  brigade  of  Stanley's 
division  which  I  had  passed  soon  after  crossing  the 
swamp,  so  that  I  did  not  doubt  that  they  would  be  re- 
pulsed. Another  force  which  emerged  from  the  woods 
into  the  open  field  to  the  front  of  the  22d  Illinois,  and 
those  who  appeared  some  time  before  to  be  moving  east 
from  Farmington  to  my  right,  changed  their  direction, 
and  marched  north,  towards  that  part  of  the  line  occu- 
pied by  the  left  of  the  27th  and  51st,  and  one  battalion 
of  the  42d.  The  state  of  my  feelings  may  be  guessed, 
when,  soon  after  this  time  and  the  firing  had  become 
general,  a  messenger  from  General  Pope  rode  up  and 
inquired  about  the  state  of  affairs,  I  wrote  with  a  pencil : 
"I  can  hold  my  position  against  the  world,  the  flesh  and 
the  devil." 

It  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  at  last  found  the  opportu- 
nity I  had  waited  for,  and,  with  great  confidence  in  my 
men,  I  expected  to  win  a  victory. 

I  was  with  the  22d  Illinois  opposing  the  force  that 
came  on  the  Purdy  road.  As  these  troops  came  out  upon 
the  open  field,  they,  without  perceptible  halting,  formed 
line  of  battle,  and  moved  steadily  upon  us.  When  within 
what  seemed  fair  range,  we  opened  fire  upon  them,  and, 


ORGANIZATION  OF  14TH  ILLINOIS  REGIMENT.         1Q5 

as  I  observed  the  steady  fire  of  my  regiment,  I  expected 
to  see  them  thrown  into  disorder,  and,  perhaps,  break 
and  fly,  but  they  did  not  seem  to  be  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree disturbed,  but  steadily  advanced.  Soon  after,  a 
battery  was  pushed  through  one  of  the  intervals  in  the 
line  and  opened  upon  us.  For  a  few  minutes  I  felt,  and 
think  my  men  also  felt,  as  raw  troops  always  do  when 
first  exposed  to  the  fire  of  artillery,  "very  much  as  if 
they  wanted  to  get  away  from  there  !"  Soon,  however, 
I  discovered  that  the  noise  made  by  artillery  is  altogether 
out  of  proportion  to  the  mischief  it  does,  and,  satisfied 
with  the  appearances  there,  I  rode  to  the  left,  where  the 
fighting  appeared  to  be  very  close  and  desperate.  Here 
it  also  seemed  to  me,  from  the  appearance  and  steady  ad- 
vance of  the  enemy,  that  my  fire  was  not  so  effective  as 
it  ought  to  be.  I  rode  to  Hiscox,  and  said  :  "You  don't 
seem  to  strike  them  ;  turn  your  howitzers  upon  these 
rascals  who  are  coming  down  that  point,"  and  I  pointed 
to  a  mass  descending  a  hill  to  our  front,  at  a  distance  of 
possibly  four  hundred  yards.  He  said  :  "General,  I  will 
hardly  have  time  to  get  my  guns  off  the  field."  "Get 
your  guns  off  the  field!  what  do  you  mean?"  He  an- 
swered :  "Good  God,  general,  just  look?"  I  did  so,  and 
saw  a  line  advancing  upon  the  whole  semi-circle  from  the 
northwest  to  southeast.  "Give  them  one  anyhow!"  I 
shouted.  He  did  so,  and  moved  off  in  a  gallop ;  and 
when  I  turned  I  saw  my  whole  line  rapidly  retreating, 
pursued  by  the  enemy.  I  rode  some  two  hundred  yards 
until  I  reached  the  head  of  the  retreating  troops,  seized 
the  flag  of  the  27th  Illinois,  and  shouted  to  the  men  to 
"rally  round  the  flag."  Many  of  them  looked  at  me  as 
they  passed,  without  stopping ;  some  halted  and  made  a 
slight  effort  to  rally  their  comrades.  While  this  was 
going  on,  and  everything  was  in  confusion,  and  my 
own  troops  were  hurrying  towards  the  swamp,  I  received 
a  blow  from  a  fragment  of  a  shell  on  the  large  muscle 
of  the  left  arm  above  the  elbow,  which,  for  a  moment  or 
more,  engaged  all  my  thoughts ;  the  effect  was  to  be- 


106  THE  STOKY   OF   AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

numb  the  arm  so  that  it  fell  to  my  side ;  it  seemed  to 
me  that  the  bone  of  the  arm  was  crushed  into  fragments. 
I  remember  that  I  reached  around,  and  with  my  right 
hand  grasped  my  left  wrist,  and  slowly  raised  it  to  a 
horizontal  position,  then  let  it  go  ;  it  remained  so,  though 
it  tingled  its  whole  length.     I  uttered  a  shout  that  at- 
tracted the  surprised  attention  of  my  men,  and  seeing 
that  the  enemy  had  passed  the  timber  which  had  been 
occupied  by  my  troops  on  the  south  around  to  the  west, 
I  rode  down  towards  the  point  where  the  road  leading 
to  camp  entered  the  swamp.     On  my  way  I  passed  a 
few  companies  of  the  47th  Illinois  in  line,  with  their  left 
approaching  the  road  referred  to,  and  about  that  time 
the  42d  Illinois  came  up  from  the  south  to  the  same 
point.     The  enemy,  evidently  under  the  belief  that  our 
troops  had  all  retreated  beyond  their  reach  or  appre- 
hension of  an  ambuscade,  came  on  so  slowly  that  I  had 
time  to  put  the  42d  Illinois  troops  in  a  favorable  position 
before  they  came  up.     The  portion  of  men  referred  to 
formed  a  triangle,  the  road  cutting  the  woods  at  a  point 
most  distant  from  the  enemy.     I  saw  a  party  away  to 
the  left  moving  east  as  if  they  intended  by  a  detour  to 
interpose  between  us  and  the  camp,  but,  being  familiar 
with  the  ground  in  that  direction,  I  knew  the  movement 
could  not  be  successful.     I  could  hear  firing  to  the  right 
somewhat  in  advance,  but  my  only  fear  was  that  the 
enemy  would  cut  off  part  of  the  42d  Illinois,  which  had 
been  sent  in  that  direction,  which  in  fact  they  did  ;  but  in 
my  front  was  an  open  field  much  higher  than  the  ground 
we  occupied.     I  could  see  nothing  of  the  enemy,  though 
two  or  three  batteries,  as  we  judged  from  the  sound, 
were  using  shells  and  grapeshot,  which  nearly  all  passed 
over   our  heads.     They  were   evidently  attempting   to 
reach  the  causeway  over  which  they  knew  we  would  re- 
treat.    While  waiting  for  a  report  from  Major  Swan- 
wick  of  the  22d  Illinois,  whose  regiment,  having  left  the 
field,  returned  and  joined  me,  and  Lieutenant   Childs, 
one  of  my  aides,  whom  I  had  sent  to  the  left  to  learn 


ORGANIZATION  OF  14TH  ILLINOIS  REGIMENT.        107 

the  character  of  a  force  which  had  halted  in  the  shade, 
and  so  made  it  impossible  to  make  out  their  uniforms, 
I  ordered  a  drummer  boy  standing  by  to  climb  a  tree 
near  to  see  what  the  enemy  to  my  front  was  doing.  He 
reported  that  they  were  coming,  and  had  hardly  de- 
scended when  he  was  struck  by  a  grapeshot  on  his  left 
breast  and  killed  within  a  few  feet  of  me.  I  had  but  a 
moment  to  examine  the  little  fellow  and  order  him  to 
be  carried  off  the  field,  when  the  Rebels  appeared  in  a 
confused  mass,  denouncing  us  as  cowards,  and  telling  us 
to  "run, "in  language  which  I  cannot  repeat.  They  had 
come  into  full  view  and  were  at  short  range,  when  a  vol- 
ley was  fired  from  the  two  sides  of  the  triangle  before 
described.  I  have  rarely  seen  so  much  damage  done 
by  a  single  volley.  I  could  see  men  and  horses  in  con- 
fusion, and  we  took  advantage  of  the  delay  occasioned 
and  filed  into  the  road  and  moved  off. 

Colonel  Roberts,  of  the  42d  Illinois,  halted  one  of  his 
companies  at  the  bridge  over  the  creek  which  flowed 
through  the  swamp.  A  few,  perhaps  a  battalion,  of  the 
enemy  followed  to  that  point,  but  were  driven  back  by 
the  rapid  firing  of  the  revolving  rifles,  with  which  that 
company  was  armed,  and  I  marched  into  camp  in  the 
rear  of  the  42d  Illinois,  which  was  in  excellent  order. 
I  had  never  seen  the  rear  of  any  force  during  a  battle, 
and  though  all  of  my  troops  that  were  not  killed 
or  wounded  and  left  on  the  field  from  which  we  had 
been  driven,  were  in  good  order  in  advance  of  that  part 
of  the  42d  Illinois  with  which  I  came  into  camp  ;  but  I 
was  greatly  disgusted  when  I  reported  to  General  Pope, 
and  met  the  laughter  of  the  general  and  officers  around 
him,  at  the  result  of  my  boast,  by  saying  that  I  was 
able  "to  withstand  the  world  and  the  flesh,  but  the  devil 
was  too  much  forme!"  and  then  added  I  had  met  a 
superior  force  and  left  the  field  in  good  order,  to  be  told 
that  my  men  had  been  coming  into  camp  for  three 
hours  on  the  run,  reporting  everyone  but  themselves 
killed  or  captured,  and  to  this  was  added  the  further 


108  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

statement,  that  if  they  had  not  been  stopped  in  camp, 
one-half  of  them  would  have  continued  runing  until 
they  reached  the  Tennessee  river  !  I  resented  this  im- 
putation upon  the  courage  of  my  troops,  but  I  am  satis- 
fied that  a  great  many  of  them  left  the  field  very  early. 

This  conclusion  is,  however,  largely  the  result  of  my 
subsequent  observation.  This  affair  illustrates  the  fact 
that  the  mutual  ignorance  of  opposing  forces  on  a  bat- 
tlefield produces  some  strange  results.  The  Rebels  in 
Cornith  undoubtedly  learned  during  the  night  of  May 
9th  that  one  of  our  brigades  was  on  the  west  side  of  the 
swamp,  and  their  movement  was  directed  against  that 
brigade ;  they  were  no  doubt  disappointed  when  they 
met  my  brigade  in  motion,  so  much  in  advance  of  where 
they  had  expected  to  find  the  brigade  that  had  attracted 
their  attention,  and  from  that  circumstance  probably 
supposed  that  a  much  heavier  force  was  within  sup- 
porting distance.  Nothing  but  this  or  some  other  un- 
explained reason  made  their  movements  slow  ;  they  had 
upwards  of  ten  thousand  men  in  the  field,  and  if  they 
had  moved  rapidly  as  might  have  been,  expected  nothing 
could  have  prevented  them  from  capturing  my  brigade 
or  cutting  it  in  pieces.  Perhaps  as  it  was  I  am  in- 
debted for  my  escape  to  an  opportune  charge  made  by 
the  2d  Iowa  Cavalry,  commanded  by  Colonel  Hatch  un- 
der the  orders  of  General  Paine,  who,  discovering  that 
I  was  hard  pressed,  ordered  the  cavalry  charge  to  divert 
the  attention  of  the  enemy. 

At  all  events,  the  cavalry  charged,  and  scattered  the 
infantry  supports.  It  was  gallantly  done,  and  no  doubt 
checked  the  enemy's  advance  upon  my  right,  and  made 
it  possible  for  me  to  give  them  a  staggering  blow  as  I 
left  the  field.  We  lost  a  good  many  men  in  this  affair, 
and  several  valuable  officers  were  killed ;  among  whom 
was  Lieutenant-Colonel  Miles  of  the  47th  Illinois.  Like 
many  volunteer  officers  early  in  the  war,  he  felt  it  to  be 
his  duty  to  expose  himself  to  danger  in  order  to  give 


ORGANIZATION  OF  14TH  ILLINOIS  REGIMENT.         109 

his  men  confidence  in  his  courage ;  it  cost  him  his  life, 
and  deprived  the  country  of  a  promising  officer. 

Within  a  few  days  after  this  affair,  General  Pope's 
command,  which  was  still  known  as  the  Army  of  the 
Mississippi,  moved  forward  to  a  position  near  Farming- 
ton,  Mississippi,  and  as  he  approached  the  enemy  near 
Cornith,  my  duties  were  pressing,  and  often  fatiguing. 
I  had  frequent  affairs  with  the  Rebels'  reconnoitering 
parties,  but  my  last  day's  service  was  that  of  general 
officer  of  the  day,  on  Sunday,  May  29th.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  that  day  I  rode  along  the  line  of  pickets,  which 
was  very  near  the  enemy  and  was  exceedingly  danger- 
ous from  the  number  of  sharpshooters. 

In  going  down  from  the  right  to  the  left  along  the 
line,  a  young  lieutenant  of  a  Michigan  regiment  riding 
by  my  side  was  shot  through  his  body,  and  died  within 
a  few  minutes.  I  proceeded  still  further  south,  and 
again  passed  a  point  much  infested  by  the  sharpshoot- 
ers ;  one  fellow  was  extremely  watchful,  and  was  a  fine 
shot.  Anxious  to  find  his  exact  position  I  left  my 
horse,  and  went  forward  to  a  tree,  and  undertook  to 
look  for  him ;  he  caught  sight  of  my  hat,  fired,  and 
missed,  but  one  of  our  sharpshooters  some  distance  to 
our  left  caught  sight  of  him  as  he  fired  at  me  and  hit 
him  fair ;  we  saw  him  spring  forward,  and  heard  from 
him  no  more. 

Once  during  the  day  the  Rebels  shelled  the  picket 
lines,  but  made  no  impression.  Late  in  the  evening 
I  returned  to  my  quarters ;  I  had  eaten  no  dinner, 
but  felt  so  heavy  and  drowsy  that  I  lay  down,  and  as 
I  did  so  I  said,  "If  I  am  asleep  when  supper  is  ready 
do  not  disturb  me."  I  fell  asleep  at  once,  and  in  the 
night,  at  what  time  I  do  not  know,  I  thought  I  heard 
firing  on  the  skirmish  line.  I  attempted  to  rise,  imag- 
ining I  had  received  a  bayonet  thrust  in  my  left  side,  and 
have  no  recollection  of  any  event  which  occurred  for 
many  days  afterwards. 

I  had  observed  for  sometime  that  there  was  much 


110  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

sickness  and  many  deaths  in  my  own  command,  but 
anticipated  no  danger  for  myself.  In  the  morning  of 
the  day  I  was  attacked  by  illness,  I  felt  as  well  as  any 
time  for  many  months  ;  I  noticed  at  noon  that  I  had  no 
inclination  for  dinner,  and  about  the  middle  of  the 
afternoon  I  had  experienced  a  sense  of  weariness  for 
which  I  could  not  account ;  I  rode  to  my  tent,  and  felt 
a  slight  chillness,  then  fell  asleep,  and  was  aroused  as 
before  stated,  then  became  unconscious.  When  I  re- 
covered consciousness,  Dr.  Fitch  of  the  42d  Illinois  was 
near  me,  and  he  said,  "He  is  all  right."  I  asked  in  a 
whisper  "What  is  the  matter?"  His  answer  was,  "You 
have  had  a  close  graze,"  or  some  such  expression.  I 
thought  from  the  excessive  soreness  in  my  side  that  I 
had  received  a  wound,  and  did  not  know  to  the  contrary 
until  several  hours  afterwards,  when  told  that  I  had 
pneumonia. 

On  May  13th,  I  was  assisted  to  mount  my  horse,  to 
take  part  as  I  supposed  in  a  battle  for  the  possession  of 
Corinth  ;  for  once  in  my  life  I  was  absolutely  indifferent 
to  death.  I  rode  to  where  my  command  was  in  line, 
ready  to  advance  if  required,  and  while  waiting  the  re- 
port reached  us  that  the  enemy  had  evacuated  the  place 
and  were  in  full  retreat.  I  was  then  lifted  from  my 
horse  and  laid  upon  the  rail  roof  of  a  shelter  made  by 
the  pickets  ;  I  was  taken  again  to  my  tent,  saw  my  own 
troops  move  off  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy  without  me, 
and  felt  that  the  war  was  over  as  far  as  I  was  concerned. 

Some  of  the  officers  and  men  who  knew  my  situation 
called,  looked  in,  spoke  a  few  words  of  sympathy,  and 
in  doing  so  left  upon  my  mind  the  impression  that  our 
separation  was  final.  I  am  quite  sure  that  those  who 
saw  me  believed  that  I  would  die,  for  there  were  few 
who  recovered  from  such  an  attack  as  mine.  I  re- 
mained in  my  tent  until  the  next  day,  and  was  then 
placed  in  an  ambulance  and  removed  to  Hamburg.  A 
steamboat  was  on  the  point  of  leaving  for  St.  Louis  ;  it 
afforded  comparatively  comfortable  accommodations  for 


ORGANIZATION  OF  14TH  ILLINOIS  REGIMENT.        HI 

me,  and  I  was  at  once  placed  on  board,  and  soon  moved 
down  the  Tennessee  and  Ohio  rivers  to  Cairo,  and  then 
up  the  Mississippi  to  St.  Louis.  I  have  no  recollection 
of  the  scenery  along  the  river  nor  the  difference  between 
the  days  and  nights  of  the  passage  ;  I  only  know  that  at 
St.  Louis  I  was  taken  from  the  boat  to  a  hotel,  and  that 
I  was  placed  in  one  of  the  cars  on  the  railroad.  I  do  re- 
member that  at  Godfrey  I  saw  a  wheatfield  nearly  ready 
for  the  harvest,, and  thought  that  I  had  never  seen  any- 
thing more  beautiful.  I  reached  home  on  June  5th,  and 
with  the  attentions  bestowed  upon  me,  I  at  once  began 
to  improve.  I  had  not  remained  at  home  long  before  I 
saw  enough  to  convince  me  that  home  life  during  the 
war  must  have  been  to  others  who  were  unable  to  join 
the  army,  of  all  conditions  most  miserable ;  the  people 
were  divided  into  hostile  parties,  who  not  only  disliked 
but  feared  each  other.  The  ardent  Union  men  had 
formed  a  secret  political  society,  as  they  said,  to  oppose 
the  "Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,"  and  other  disloyal 
societies,  while  as  I  could  readily  discover,  there  was  a 
large  number  of  conservative  men,  who  though  alarmed 
by  the  sign  of  the  times,  were  active  in  their  efforts  to 
control  the  violent  and  rash,  and  preserve  public  order. 
I  have  always  opposed  secret  political  societies  for 
reasons  which  seem  to  me  unanswerable,  and  my  obser- 
vation of  their  influence  during  the  war,  confirmed  my 
dislike  for  them.  The  secret  leagues  of  Union  men  dur- 
ing the  war  were  dictated  by  the  timidity  of  the  Union 
people,  and  after  they  were  organized,  their  proceedings 
so  far  as  I  am  informed,  were  lawful  and  proper,  and  if 
they  had  been  made  public,  would  have  been  understood 
and  would  have  excited  no  apprehensions,  nor  could  they 
have  been  misrepresented  by  those  who  sought  to  induce 
the  people  to  enter  organizations  of  a  questionable  char- 
acter. I  do  not  attempt  to  describe  other  political  organ- 
izations of  whose  existence  I  was  informed,  but  I  was 
satisfied  that  they  were  unnecessary  and  believed  them 
to  be  dangerous.  I  exerted  myself  to  induce  my  neigh- 


112  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

bors  of  all  parties  to  abandon  the  secret  societies  to 
which  they  were  supposed  to  be  attached,  but  I  imagine 
that  my  efforts  were  not  successful  to  any  great  degree, 
for  I  was  told  before  I  left  home  again  for  the  army,  that 
my  reported  opposition  to  a  secret  society  of  the  Union 
men  led  some  to  express  doubts  of  my  loyalty  to  the 
Union  cause.  I  invited  one  of  the  gentlemen  who  ques- 
tioned my  loyalty  upon  that  ground  to  return  with  me 
to  the  army  ;  he  declined  upon  the  ground,  not  apparent 
to  others,  that  his  health  was  too  feeble  to  permit  him  to 
be  a  soldier. 


ARRIVE  AT  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE.  H3 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Retreat  to  Nashville — Mr.  Slate — Pulaski — Major  McKittrick  discovers 
a  friend — Arrive  at  Nashville. 

I  remained  at  home  until  August  26th,  when  I  started 
on  my  return  to  rejoin  my  command,  which  was  then  at 
different  points  upon  the  Memphis  and  Charleston  Rail- 
road between  Tuscumbia  and  Decatur.  On  reaching 
Tuscumbia,  I  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  a  division 
of  which  my  brigade  was  a  part,  and  relieved  General 
E.  A.  Paine,  its  former  commander.  Brigadier-General 
James  D.  Morgan  was  in  command  of  the  first  of  the 
brigades,  and  Colonel  Geo.  W.  Roberts,  of  the  42d,  suc- 
ceeded me. 

"With  the  command  of  the  division,  General  Paine 
turned  over  to  me  orders  from  General  Grant,  who  by 
this  time  had  become  the  commander  of  the  Army  of 
the  Mississippi,  directing  the  division  to  march  by  the 
way  of  Athens  and  Madison  Cross-roads  to  Dechard  on 
the  Nashville  and  Chattanooga  Railroad,  and  there  re- 
port to  General  Don  Carlos  Buell,  who,  on  the  west  side 
of  the  Cumberland  mountains,  was  watching  Bragg,  who 
had  concentrated  the  whole  of  his  army  at  Chattanooga. 
Morgan's  brigade  crossed  the  Tennessee  river  at  Flor- 
ence, and  on  September  2d,  I  started  by  rail  to  Decatur 
to  collect  Robert's  brigade  at  that  point,  cross  the  river, 
march  to  Athens  and  join  Morgan's  brigade,  and,  with 
the  whole  division,  march  to  join  Buell,  as  contemplated 
in  my  orders.  The  direction  of  my  march  was  changed 
by  an  accident  singular  enough  to  describe.  Morgan 
reached  Athens,  September  5th,  the  day  before  my  ar- 
rival, and  when  I  joined  him  I  found  a  well-dressed  and 
very  quiet  looking  citizen  under  close  arrest  near  his 
headquarters,  which  Morgan  explained  as  follows : 
8 


114  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Soon  after  Ms  arrival  at  Athens,  he  received  a  well 
written,  anonymous  note,  which  described  a  man  named 
Slate  as  "a  very  dangerous  person."  Morgan  was  ad- 
vised to  arrest  Slate,  and  assured  that  if  he  did  so  and 
would  use  proper  means  of  compulsion,  he  would  fur- 
nish valuable  information.  The  writer  professed  to  be 
a  devoted  Union  man,  and  insisted  upon  the  prompt 
arrest  of  the  person  named  Slate  with  great  earnestness. 
A  squad  of  soldiers  was  at  once  sent  to  the  store  of  Slate, 
who  was  a  dealer  in  flour,  bacon,  etc.,  and  he  was  ar- 
rested and  brought  into  camp.  He  was  followed  by  some 
of  his  neighbors  and  acquaintances  after  his  arrest,  who 
spoke  of  him  as  a  quiet,  peaceable  man,  but  when  he 
found  an  opportunity  to  speak  to  Morgan  alone,  he  said 
he  was  a  native  of  Ohio,  who  found  himself  in  Alabama 
at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  and  since  that  time  had 
found  no  opportunity  for  escape  to  the  North.  He  then 
said  that  two  days  before  a  courier  from  General  Buell 
to  the  commander  of  my  division  was  captured  near 
Athens  with  dispatches  announcing  that  Buell  himself 
had  fallen  back  to  Nashville.  The  information  with  re- 
gard to  the  change  of  General  Buell' s  plans  seemed  suf- 
ficiently startling,  but  it  disclosed  to  me  the  fact  that  I 
had  a  march  of  more  than  a  hundred  miles  before  me, 
my  route  infested  with  Rebel  cavalry,  and  an  uncertain 
force  of  infantry  at  no  great  distance  to  my  right,  who 
might  easily  place  themselves  on  my  road  to  Nashville. 
After  securing  this  information,  I  knew  there  was  no  time 
to  be  lost.  Ostensibly  to  punish  the  recreant  Ohio  man, 
we  seized  his  whole  stock  of  flour,  bacon  and  whatever  else 
he  had,  and  after  valuing  the  stock  with  a  great  show  of 
fairness,  gave  him  a  voucher  for  the  amount  of  its  ap- 
parent value,  payable  upon  proof  of  his  loyalty,  and  to 
make  his  punishment  apparently  as  harsh  as  possible, 
we  took  him  with  us  as  a  prisoner.  It  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  add  that  whatever  show  of  opposition  he  made 
at  first,  we  had  no  difficulty  in  keeping  him  with  us. 
After  an  hour's  march,  he  disclosed  his  true  character, 


ARRIVE  AT  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE.  115 

said  he  had  written  the  letter  himself,  and  soon  after  we 
arrived  at  Nashville,  his  vouchers  were  paid  in  full  with- 
out additional  proof  of  his  loyalty. 

The  difficulties  of  the  march  from  Athens  to  Nashville 
were  greatly  increased  by  the  fact  that  the  quartermaster 
at  Decatur  had  undertaken  to  send  under  my  protection 
to  Nashville  a  large  number  of  wagons  loaded  with  prop- 
erty which  would  otherwise  have  been  destroyed  or  aban- 
doned. Several  hundred  loyal  men  with  their  families 
from  the  hills  south  of  the  Tennessee  river  had  joined 
me  in  order  to  reach  the  North  and  escape  Rebel  con- 
scription. I  had  also  with  my  column  one  hundred  or 
more  convalescents  from  the  regiments  that  remained 
with  General  Rosecrans,  and  a  numerous  crowd  of  negroes 
of  all  ages  and  sexes,  who,  in  spite  of  all  my  exertions  to 
prevent  them,  had  crossed  the  Tennessee  river  on  the 
ferry-boat  which  I  had  used  in  crossing  my  men.  Thou- 
sands of  them  were  collected  on  the  south  bank  of  the 
river  hoping  to  cross.  The  wail  of  the  poor  creatures 
was  piteous  as  the  ferry-boat,  fired  by  my  order  when 
the  last  of  my  troops  had  crossed,  passed  down  the  river 
in  their  sight  wrapped  in  flames. 

On  Sunday  morning,  September  7th,  I  moved  out  on 
the  road  from  Athens  to  Elkton,  by  way  of  Blowing 
Springs,  with  nine  regiments  of  infantry,  two  six-gun 
batteries,  an  escort  of  about  fifty  cavalry,  and  more 
than  a  thousand  non-combatants,  composed  of  conva- 
lescent soldiers,  loyal  Alabamans  and  negroes,  as  be- 
fore stated. 

As  I  anticipated,  the  route  was  infested  with  bands 
of  mounted  Rebels.  Information  of  my  situation  as 
well  as  of  my  orders  were  in  their  possession,  and  it 
seemed  to  me  that  all  the  male  inhabitants  of  the 
country  who  could  raise  a  horse  and  shot-gun  were 
out  on  that  Sunday  morning  "hunting  Yankees."  We 
brushed  them  from  our  road  when  they  confronted  us, 
but  they  were  numerous  and  troublesome. 

We  moved  in  good  order  and  at  a  steady  pace  until 


116  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

we  reached  "Blowing  Springs,"  of  which  I  have  spoken, 
where  we  halted  to  close  up  the  column.  Blowing 
Springs — why  so  called  I  never  knew — are  a  number 
of  large  and  beautiful  springs  situated  in  a  deep  valley 
which  opens  to  the  north  and  terminates  in  the  valley 
of  Elk  river,  which  we  were  approaching.  After  en- 
tering the  descent  into  the  valley  where  the  springs  are 
found,  the  head  of  the  column  marched  about  half  a 
mile,  so  that  when  halted  it  extended  along  the  road 
which  was  overlooked  by  hills  at  no  great  distance. 

A  very  exciting  and  as  was  thought  by  others  an 
amusing  incident  occurred  to  me  while  the  men  were  rest- 
ing in  what  seemed  to  us  all  a  very  comfortable  and  safe 
position.  After  we  halted  I  saw  near  the  road  a  hand- 
some log  house,  in  the  door  of  which  stood  a  remarkably 
comely,  neatly-dressed  woman.  She  appeared  so  polite 
and  good  natured,  that  I  crossed  the  little  fence  that 
stood  in  front  of  the  house  and  commenced  a  conversa- 
tion with  her.  We  were  soon  both  standing  in  the  door 
facing  each  other,  when  suddenly  the  Rebels  on  the  hill 
west  of  us  opened  fire  at  not  more  than  a  hundred  yards 
distance ;  with  the  report  the  shot  rattled  against  the 
fence  and  side  of  the  house ;  she  sprang  inside  and 
slammed  the  door,  and  as  I  was  next  to  the  hinges  the 
closing  door  pushed  me  out  of  my  place  and  against  the 
fence.  The  firing  wounded  two  or  three  men,  but  upon 
our  return  of  the  fire  they  fled.  Upon  reaching  the 
place  the  Rebels  had  occupied  we  found  two  guns  and  a 
revolver,  "signs"  indicating  that  probably  we  had  done 
some  execution. 

"We  resumed  our  march  and  crossed  the  Elk  river 
about  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  at  Elkton,  where  we 
struck  the  turnpike  from  Elkton  to  Nashville ;  I  had 
never  marched  upon  a  turnpike  before,  and  was  de- 
lighted with  its  smoothness  and  the  ease  with  which  the 
whole  column  with  a  long  train  of  wagons  was  kept 
closed  up.  Near  sunset  we  reached  Buchanan's  creek, 
about  six  miles  from  Pulaski,  Tennessee. 


ARRIVE  AT  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE.  H7 

The  site  of  our  camp  for  the  night  was  an  exceedingly 
pleasant  one ;  it  was  well  watered  and  situated  so  that 
it  could  be  easily  guarded,  and  we  prepared  for  a  good 
night's  rest  after  a  march  of  upwards  of  twenty  miles. 
It  was  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  when  a  negro 
man  was  brought  in  by  the  pickets  ;  he  reported  that  a 
Rebel  force,  commanded  by  Colonel  Biffle,  were  at  the 
Fair  Grounds  near  Pulaski,  and  that  they  expected,  as 
he  expressed  it,  to  give  us  some  trouble  next  morning. 

I  had  no  great  respect  for  the  forces  he  spoke  of,  and 
determined  to  surprise  them  about  day  break,  instead  of 
waiting  for  them,  and  accordingly  Colonel  Roberts  with 
two  regiments  of  his  brigade  left  the  camp  about  mid- 
night, guided  by  the  negro  man  mentioned,  with  orders 
to  push  on  to  Pulaski,  and  make  his  attack  as  soon  as 
he  could  reach  the  enemy.  He  reached  their  camp  at 
daybreak,  as  was  expected,  but  they  had  been  warned 
of  his  advance  and  did  not  wait  for  him.  He  only  suc- 
ceeded in  capturing  a  few  prisoners,  a  large  mail  and  a 
breakfast,  which  the  people  of  the  neighborhood  had 
prepared  for  them. 

On  September  8th,  we  marched  early  and  reached 
Pulaski  about  nine  o'clock.  I  called  upon  the  Hon. 
Thomas  Martin,  with  whom  I  had  become  acquainted  at 
"Washington,  while  attending  the  Peace  Conference  in 
1861,  of  which  body  we  were  both  members.  He  re- 
ceived me  kindly,  and  satisfied  me  that  he  had  no  sym- 
pathy with  the  Rebellion,  though  his  situation  com- 
pelled him  to  acquiesce  in  the  general  sentiment  of  the 
people  around  him.  I  breakfasted  with  him,  and  when 
I  took  leave  I  felt  that  his  situation  was  pitiable ;  he 
was  advanced  in  life,  and  had  large  property  in  the 
town,  and  naturally  felt  apprehensive  for  its  safety. 

I  noticed  when  we  entered  Pulaski  that  there  were 
many  persons  on  the  streets  dressed  in  citizens  clothes, 
who  watched  us  as  we  passed  through  with  apparent 
unconcern,  but  who  were  in  fact,  as  I  then  supposed,  a 


118  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

part  of  the  men  whom  Roberts  drove  out  of  their  camp 
that  morning. 

They  had  made  slight  changes  in  their  dress  and  had 
washed  themselves,  which  had  probably  done  as  much 
to  change  their  appearance  as  anything  else.  I  was  ex- 
tremely distrustful  of  them,  for  they  attempted  to  capture 
the  small  guard  that  I  left  in  the  town  to  prevent  mis- 
chief by  stragglers.  After  moving  out  from  Pulaski  a 
short  distance,  I  witnessed  one  of  those  scenes  that  try 
men's  patience  severely  without  affording  an  opportunity 
for  redress. 

At  about  that  distance  from  the  town  we  passed  a  cotton 
mill  by  the  roadside.  It  was  a  two-story  frame  house, 
with  perhaps  a  dozen  windows  on  the  side  next  the  road, 
and  from  each  of  these  windows  there  peered  as  many 
heads  of  women  as  could  crowd  into  them.  They  hissed 
as  we  passed,  and  some  of  them  screamed,  "Run,  you 
cowards  ;  they '11  catch  you  before  you  get  to  Nashville," 
with  many  other  things  of  like  character,  pleasant  to 
listen  to.  I  stopped  a  moment  in  front  of  the  building, 
provoked,  I  confess,  but  after  listening  to  them  a  few 
moments,  I  said:  "Ladies,  do  you  know  that  nearly 
every  one  of  these  men  carry  matches  in  their  pockets  ; 
this  building  would  burn  nicely  !"  They  took  the  hint, 
and  we  heard  nothing  more  from  them. 

A  few  minutes  after  this  scene  I  heard  firing  up  in  the 
town,  and  upon  riding  back  a  short  distance  I  met  my 
guard,  which  had  been  left  in  the  town  for  its  protection, 
retreating  pursued  by  some  of  the  same  citizens  whom  I 
had  seen  before  leaving  town.  The  temptation  to  march 
back  and  burn  the  town  almost  overpowered  me. 

We  marched  forward,  however,  and  in  the  afternoon 
were  attacked  by  a  force  of  six  hundred  mounted  men. 
They  killed  two  of  the  negroes  who  were  following  me, 
and  stampeded  some  of  the  teams ;  one  of  the  wagons 
broke  down  and  was  burned  with  its  contents. 

We  reached  Lynn  creek  after  a  march  of  twenty  miles, 
and  camped  early  in  order  to  bring  up  the  wagons  and 


ARRIVE  AT  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE.  H9 

collect  my  miscellaneous  followers  before  dark.  It  was 
evident  that  the  Rebels  were  increasing  in  numbers  and 
audacity.  Impressed  by  this  information  as  we  passed 
Spring  Hill,  a  small  village,  I  ordered  Captain  Ranney 
of  the  42d  Illinois,  to  seize  all  the  horses  he  could  find, 
and  mount  his  company.  Ranney  did  this  successfully, 
and  soon  had  them  mounted,  and  some  of  the  men,  not 
included  in  the  order,  "got  something  to  ride." 

They  brought  into  the  line,  as  one  of  them  said, 
"everything  that  had  hair  on  'em,"  stallions,  brood 
mares,  two  year  old  colts  of  both  sexes,  and  one  good- 
looking  fellow  got  hold  of  a  "jack,"  which  he  rode  bare- 
back and  guided  with  a  halter.  We  marched  about 
three  miles  further  and  halted  near  an  excellent  spring, 
which  was  just  outside  the  camp,  and  the  Rebels  "am- 
bushed" it,  and  wounded  one  or  two  men  who  went  to 
the  springs  for  water  before  we  discovered  them.  A 
volley  of  musketry  into  their  covert  scattered  them,  and 
upon  going  to  their  hiding  place  we  found  they  had  suf- 
fered more  injury  than  was  inflicted  upon  us. 

Awhile  before  sunset,  after  we  had  made  arrangements 
for  the  night,  the  picket  brought  in  a  stout,  portly  gen- 
tleman, pretty  well  mounted,  who  announced  himself  as 
Major  McKit trick,  and  told  me  that  he  had  followed  me 
to  induce  me  to  give  up  his  "stock."  He  described  a 
number,  four  or  five,  to  be  mares  that  had  suckled  colts 
during  the  summer,  and  fillies,  all  "blooded."  Luckily 
for  the  major,  I  had  noticed  his  animals,  and  regretted 
that  they  had  been  taken.  It  was  easy  for  him  to  ob- 
tain my  consent  to  restore  them.  He  wanted  to  take  his 
stock  at  once  and  return  home,  but  I  invited  him  to 
spend  the  night  with  me.  He  declined  very  politely,  but 
when  I  informed  him  that  I  would  be  compelled  to  insist 
upon  his  remaining,  he  submitted  quite  cheerfully.  He 
took  his  supper,  talked  quite  freely,  and  after  awhile  we 
discovered  that  we  were  relatives — "kin."  His  mother 
and  mine  were  of  the  same  name,  and  came  from  Cul- 
pepper  county,  Virginia. 


120  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Having  these  facts  to  start  with,  Virginians  and  Ken- 
tuckians  will  readily  understand  that  it  was  not  diffi- 
cult for  the  major  and  myself  to  supply  the  "missing 
links."  This  was  not  the  last  time  I  met  "my  cousin," 
the  major,  for  after  our  arrival  in  Nashville,  most  of  the 
animals  we  had  captured  on  this  occasion  were  useless, 
and  while  wondering  what  could  be  done  with  them,  the 
major  came  in  one  day  with  a  number  of  majors  and 
captains,  who  like  himself  were  too  old  to  go  into  the 
Rebel  army,  and  were  therefore  loyal.  They  claimed 
the  stock,  proved  their  title  by  the  major,  who  was 
understood  by  them  to  be  my  kinsman  ;  they  dined  with 
me,  took  their  animals,  which  I  returned  at  the  major's 
request,  and  left  Nashville  for  home.  I  confessed,  how- 
ever, to  my  cousin,  that  the  scarcity  of  forage  in  Nash- 
ville had  its  influence  in  making  me  liberal. 

The  march  next  day  was  an  exceedingly  lively  one  ; 
the  Rebel  forces  were  still  increasing,  and  fired  upon  us 
from  every  favorable  position  they  could  find.  The  ex- 
cellence of  the  turnpike  enabled  me  to  keep  the  wagons 
of  my  train  close  up.  My  non-combatants  were  by  this 
time  foot-sore  and  weary,  but  were  placed  at  intervals  in 
the  column  ;  the  weakest  and  most  helpless  were  put  in 
the  wagons,  while,  with  a  heavy  rear-guard  and  strong 
flanking  parties,  we  were  able  to  keep  the  enemy  at  such 
distance  that  they  did  us  no  great  harm. 

As  we  approached  Columbia,  they  pressed  us  with  so 
much  force  that  Roberts'  brigade  halted,  and  formed  a 
line  of  battle  to  cover  our  crossing  of  Duck  river ;  they 
did  not  choose  to  attack  him,  so  we  crossed  the  river 
safely  and  camped. 

As  we  moved  off  the  next  morning,  the  Rebels  from 
the  south  side  of  the  river  commenced  firing  upon  us. 
Anxious  to  get  my  column  of  wagons  and  crowd  of  people, 
who  were  badly  demoralized  by  the  attack,  out  of  the 
range  of  the  Rebel  fire,  I  left  General  Morgan,  with  his 
brigade  and  Houghteling's  battery,  to  deal  with  them,  and 
prepared  to  meet  trouble  at  Rutherford's  creek,  the  cross- 


ARRIVE  AT  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE.  121 

ing  of  which  was  about  three  miles  ahead,  and  was  oc- 
cupied by  the  enemy,  with  what  force  I  did  not  know. 
My  guides  had  described  this  place  as  one  that  could  be 
so  occupied  by  the  Rebels  as  to  give  much  trouble,  and, 
when  I  had  reached  and  examined  it,  I  found  they  were 
not  mistaken. 

The  road  passed  through  woods  as  it  approached  the 
crossing  of  the  creek,  and  then  descended  abruptly  to  a 
bridge  which  the  Rebels  had  neglected  to  destroy,  and  an 
embankment  of  considerable  height  extended  from  the 
north  end  of  the  bridge  across  the  bottom,  and  the  whole 
length  of  the  embankment  was  easily  commanded  by  the 
fire  of  the  enemy  at  short  range  from  woods  on  both 
sides. 

When  we  discovered  that  the  bridge  was  safe,  we  pre- 
pared to  clear  the  woods  on  both  sides  of  the  road.  I 
knew  we  had  no  time  to  lose,  for  I  had  heard  that  For- 
rest was  near  Fayetteville,  at  some  distance  to  my  right, 
and  all  signs  proved  that  the  Rebel  forces  around  us, 
though  not  of  a  very  dangerous  class  of  troops,  were 
steadily  increasing  in  numbers.  I  determined,  there- 
fore, to  clear  the  woods  on  both  sides  of  the  bridge  "on 
the  run."  Roberts,  one  of  the  most  gallant  of  men,  di- 
vided his  brigade,  charged  into  the  woods,  and  cleared 
them  at  once,  but  still,  shortly  after  Roberts  had  passed, 
the  Rebels  again  got  possession  of  the  wood,  attacked  a 
portion  of  the  train,  stampeded  some  of  the  colored 
drivers,  who  left  their  teams,  several  of  which  ran  off 
the  embankment,  turned  the  wagons  over,  and  produced 
a  great  deal  of  confusion. 

Morgan  had  come  up  in  the  meantime,  and  he  again 
cleared  our  flanks  of  the  enemy ;  order  was  restored,  the 
wagons  were  righted  up  and  we  got  in  motion  again. 
After  marching  a  few  miles,  I  was  party  to  an  incident 
that  was  important  to  me  at  the  time,  though  I  did  not 
fully  credit  the  information  thus  obtained  and  acted 
upon,  until  1865,  I  found  corroboration  that  I  could  not 
dispute . 


122  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

As  I  rode  along  the  side  of  the  public  road,  which  was 
occupied  by  the  marching  column,  I  observed  an  appar- 
ently old  man  standing  inside  the  yard  of  a  house 
which  was  separated  from  the  road  by  a  common  fence. 
He  was,  when  I  first  saw  him,  gesticulating  with  vio- 
lence, and,  as  I  came  near  enough  to  distinguish  his 
words,  he  was  saying  the  most  abusive  things  to  the  pass- 
ing men,  who  seemed,  for  what  appeared  a  good  reason, 
to  pay  no  attention  to  him.  At  first  glance  he  seemed 
to  be  drunk,  but,  fearing  that  some  of  the  men  might 
lose  patience  and  resent  his  conduct,  I  stopped  and  told 
him  he  was  running  a  great  risk,  when  he  turned  on  me, 

and  said  he  was  "not  afraid  of  me  or  all  the Yankees 

in  the  world;"  and  then,  lowering  his  voice,  said  :  "A 
man  left  here  last  night  to  notify  Forrest,  who  is  at 
Fayetteville,  to  meet  you  at  Hollow  Tree  Gap,"  and  then, 
without  waiting  for  an  answer,  he  commenced  again  in 
a  loud  voice  to  denounce  the  Yankees,  and  wish  them  all 
in  a  place  supposed  to  be  too  hot  for  comfort.  Surprised 
at  his  conduct,  as  well  as  his  language,  I  waited  a  mo- 
ment, and  he  repeated  what  he  had  told  me,  and  then 
moved  away,  muttering  as  if  he  were  still  in  a  passion. 

"Hollow  Tree  Gap"  is  a  dangerous  gap  in  the  hills 
between  Franklin  and  Nashville,  of  the  character  of 
which  I  had  some  knowledge.  Impressed  by  this  infor- 
mation, I  camped  that  night  on  the  Harpeth,  a  few  miles 
south  of  Franklin,  in  a  beautiful  beech  grove.  The 
Rebels  attempted  to  drive  in  my  pickets  during  the 
night,  and  made  some  show  of  strength  the  next  morn- 
ing, but  as  their  numbers  seemed  less  than  they  had 
been,  I  supposed  that  the  body  of  their  forces  had  gone 
forward  to  the  "gap"  to  await  our  coming.  We  reached 
Franklin  about  nine  o'clock,  and  as  usual  in  passing 
through  our  route  found  the  streets  crowded  with  men, 
having  the  equivocal  appearance  with  which  I  had  be- 
come so  familiar. 

As  my  train  and  crowd  of  followers  moved  slowly, 
many  of  them  footsore  with  their  long  march,  and  would 


ARRIVE  AT  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE.  123 

be  likely  to  fall  behind,  I  determined  to  take  se- 
curity for  their  safety.  Major  Scarret,  my  provost- 
marshal,  took  some  fifteen  or  twenty  of  a  group  of  re- 
spectable looking  men  prisoners,  among  them  John 
Marshall,  an  old  lawyer  of  the  place.  I  then  told  the 
people  that  my  teams  and  stragglers  would  be  some 
time  passing  through  the  town,  and  in  the  meantime  I 
would  hold  the  men  captured  as  hostages  ;  that  I  would 
cross  the  creek  north  of  the  town,  put  my  artillery  in 
position,  and  would  shell  the  town  if  I  heard  a  gun  fire, 
and  would  hold  the  hostages  responsible  besides.  I 
added  that  in  the  meantime  the  men  captured  should  be 
treated  respectfully,  and  released  as  soon  as  all  my 
wagons  and  people  came  up  without  injury.  There  was 
some  demur  to  this,  but  I  told  them  their  neighbors 
would  not  be  harmed  if  they  behaved  themselves. 

My  guns  were  put  in  position  north  of  the  creek.  I 
waited,  perhaps,  an  hour  with  my  guests,  who  seemed 
a  little  apprehensive,  but  the  wagons  and  followers  had 
by  that  time  all  come  up  safely,  and  I  parted  with  my 
prisoners,  both  parties  pleased,  and  rode  on  to  overtake 
my  advance  guard,  which,  without  halting,  had  pushed 
forward  to  the  "Gap,"  so  as  to  be  sure  of  its  possession. 
I  heard  firing  in  the  gap  as  I  came  forward,  but  it  was 
so  light  that  I  was  satisfied  that  there  was  only  a 
small  party  opposing  us.  We  made  no  halt  but  pressed 
on  through  into  the  open  country,  and  then  all  felt  that 
the  march  was  practically  ended. 

I  then  supposed  that  the  old  man  on  the  roadside  had 
trifled  with  me,  and  remained  of  that  opinion  until  1865, 
when  on  the  cars  between  Mitchell,  Indiana,  and  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky,  I  met  a  man  who,  on  hearing  my  name, 
asked  if  I  was  the  officer  who  marched  from  the 
Tennessee  river  to  Nashville,  in  1862.  When  told  that 
I  was,  he  said  :  "You  came  very  nigh  having  trouble  in 
getting  to  Nashville  that  time.  I  was  one  of  the  men 
that  went  to  get  Forrest  to  come  and  intercept  you."  I 
found  that  he  went  from  the  neighborhood  where  I  had 


124  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

obtained  my  information  in  the  curious  manner  already 
described.  I  told  him  that  I  had  knowledge  of  his  trip, 
but  I  did  not  gratify  his  curiosity  by  confiding  to  him 
the  source  of  my  information.  On  September  12th,  im- 
mediately after  we  halted  south  of  Nashville,  I  rode  in 
to  report  my  arrival,  and  found  General  George  H. 
Thomas,  with  whom  I  then  formed  an  acquaintance 
which  afterwards  ripened  into  a  friendship  that  only 
terminated  with  his  life.  I  will  hereafter  speak  of  that 
great  soldier,  patriot  and  true  gentleman  in  such  terms 
as  I  can  best  employ  to  express  my  estimate  of  his  char- 
acter. He  informed  me  of  the  march  of  General  Buell 
into  Kentucky  to  meet  Bragg,  who  seemed  to  be  moving 
as  if  he  intended  to  reach  and  perhaps  cross  the  Ohio 
river  ;  that  he  had  written  orders  to  push  his  own  troops 
to  join  Buell,  and  that  my  division  with  that  of  General 
Negley,  who  would  rank  me,  would  occupy  and  hold 
Nashville  until  we  were  relieved  by  the  return  of  the 
army  from  the  campaign  in  Kentucky. 

We  moved  in  position  in  Nashville  on  September  15, 
1862,  and  from  that  time  until  the  arrival  of  the  army 
under  Rosecrans,  early  in  November,  we  were  cut  off 
from  all  communication  from  the  North.  During  all 
that  time  I  had  no  letter  from  my  family,  nor  did  I  see 
a  paper  published  outside  of  Nashville. 

My  time  passed  pleasantly,  however.  I  met  Governor 
Andrew  Johnson,  afterwards  President  of  the  United 
States  ;  Major  Wm.  B.  Lewis,  who  was  one  of  the  audi- 
tors of  the  treasury  under  General  Jackson's  administra- 
tion, and  his  intimate  friend;  Francis  B.  Fogg,  one  of 
the  historic  lawyers  of  Tennessee ;  Allen  A.  Hall,  the 
intimate  friend  and  counselor  of  John  Bell,  and  also  oc- 
casionally met  Parson  Brownlow,  and  others  who  had 
borne  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  politics  of  the  state, 
some  of  whom  were  known  beyond  the  limits  of  that 
state.  All  of  these  men  were  interesting  studies  to  me. 
All  of  those  whose  names  I  have  mentioned  were  intense 


ARRIVE  AT  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE.  125 

in  their  devotion  to  the  Union  of  the  states,  but  had  no 
feeling  of  esteem  for  each  other. 

Major  Lewis  was  at  that  time  upwards  of  eighty  years 
of  age,  and  lived  in  the  past,  when  Jackson  was  the 
idol  as  well  as  the  leader  of  the  people  of  Tennessee. 
He  was  a  "quartermaster"  with  Jackson  during  the 
"Creek  war."  He  was  a  member  of  the  general's  house- 
hold while  he  was  president,  and  was  familiar  with  all 
of  his  opinions  and  prejudices,  and  I  think  shared  them 
with  almost  as  much  intensity  as  they  were  entertained 
by  General  Jackson  himself.  I  have  copious  notes  of 
his  conversations  with  me,  and  he  surprised  me  by 
revelations  that  were  entirely  unexpected,  and  overthrew 
many  of  the  opinions  I  had  held  of  the  character  of 
public  men  of  the  period  of  General  Jackson's  leader- 
ship. 

In  1844,  the  Democratic  party  accepted  the  nomina- 
tion of  James  K.  Polk  as  the  party  candidate  for  presi- 
dent with  enthusiasm  greatly  heightened  by  the  popular 
belief  that  he  was  the  intimate  and  confidential  friend 
of  General  Jackson,  and  that  Folk's  nomination  after  the 
defeat  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  intended  as  a  compliment 
to  the  general,  and  I  remember  that  Polk  was  called  the 
"Young  Hickory"  during  the  canvass,  and  that  he  was 
regarded  in  every  sense  as  the  representative  of  the  great 
chieftain.  But  Major  Lewis  assured  me  that  Jackson 
had  no  confidence  in  Polk,  and  regarded  him  as  the 
secret  friend  of  Calhoun  and  the  Nullifers.  He  said, 
"General  Jackson,  while  president,  and  Polk  was 
speaker,  believed,  notwithstanding  his  profession  of 
devotion  to  his  ideas  of  government  and  of  personal 
friendship,  that  Polk  was  the  secret  ally  of  his  enemies, 
and  that  his  nomination  for  the  presidency  was  brought 
about  by  treachery  to  Van  Buren  and  the  machinations 
of  the  Nullifiers." 

Major  Lewis  was  familiar  with  the  circumstances  of 
the  rencounter  between  General  Jackson  and  Thomas  H. 
and  Jesse  Benton,  in  which  Jackson  received  the  pistol 


126  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

shot  which  was  extracted  after  he  became  president. 
Major  Lewis  stated,  as  his  opinion,  that  the  Bentons  left 
Nashville  from  apprehension  that  Jackson  would  at  some 
time  renew  the  affair. 

Francis  B.  Fogg,  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  was  one  of 
the  most  interesting  men  I  have  ever  met.  He  was  old, 
but  his  mental  faculties  were  unaffected  by  age  ;  he  had 
been  more  than  fifty  years  a  lawyer,  and  had  for  a  large 
portion  of  that  time  stood  in  the  front  rank  of  the  emi- 
nent Nashville  bar.  He  called  upon  me  one  afternoon 
from  mere  politeness,  and  when  I  told  him  that  I  was  a 
lawyer  and  not  a  professional  soldier,  he  expressed  great 
satisfaction,  and  commenced  to  deplore  the  fact  that  the 
war  had  closed  the  courts  and  left  him  out  of  employ- 
ment. Anxious  to  interest  him,  I  asked  his  opinion  as 
to  the  power  of  the  United  States  to  create  military  com- 
missions in  states  where  civil  authorities  had  abdicated  or 
ceased  to  execute  their  functions.  I  expected  from  him 
a  denial  of  the  right  in  question,  but  to  my  surprise  he 
asserted  the  right  and  the  duty  of  the  United  States  to 
maintain  order  and  to  suppress  disorder  by  military 
agencies,  and  supported  his  position  by  one  of  the  ablest 
and  most  convincing  arguments  I  have  ever  heard  or 
read.  He  had  studied  the  subject  profoundly  and  stated 
his  propositions  with  judicial  accuracy,  and  his  con- 
clusions were  irresistible.  This  old  lawyer  had  lost  a 
promising  son  in  the  battle  of  Mill  Spring,  where  he  fell 
with  General  Zollicoffer,  of  whose  personal  staff  he  was 
a  member.  Mr.  Fogg  called  several  times  upon  me, 
and  I  always  made  it  a  point  to  start  some  legal  ques- 
tion that  I  might  listen  to  him.  He  was  always  pleas- 
ant, and  never  failed  to  be  most  instructive  and  inter- 
esting. 

Major  Lewis  told  me  that  General  Jackson  thought 
Mr.  Fogg  to  be  a  good  lawyer,  and  at  one  time  thought 
of  appointing  him  associate  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  and  would  have  done  so,  but  Jack- 
son suspected  him  of  leaning  towards  Federalism. 


ARRIVE  AT  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE.  127 

While  in  Nashville  I  saw  much  of  Governor  Johnson, 
and  often  heard  him  express  his  opinion  of  men  and 
measures.  On  account  of  the  peculiarities  of  Governor 
Johnson's  character,  it  is  difficult  to  describe  him.  He 
possessed  great  natural  capacity,  but  his  knowledge  of 
the  science  of  government  was  superficial.  He  was  sin- 
cere and  earnest  in  his  opinions,  but  his  prejudices  were 
violent  and  often  unjust.  His  personal  dislikes  were 
never  concealed.  Bailie  Peyton  said  of  him,  that  "he 
hated  a  gentleman  by  instinct."  After  listening  to  him 
one  day,  I  said  :  "Governor,  the  anti-slavery  men  of  the 
North  oppose  slavery  because  it  is  unjust,  and  we  hope 
by  abolishing  it  to  make  free  citizens  of  those  human 

chattels."  He  answered:  "D n  the  negroes  ;  I  am 

fighting  these  traitorous  aristocrats,  their  masters!" 
His  courage  was  of  the  highest  order,  and  no  man  was 
more  ready  to  take  responsibilities.  He  passed  through 
Louisville,  in  February,  1865,  on  his  way  to  Washington 
to  assume  the  vice-presidency,  to  which  .he  had  been 
elected.  In  a  speech  delivered  there,  he  denounced  the 
Kentucky  Union  men  as  insincere  and  treacherous  ;  ad- 
vised me  to  trust  none  of  them,  but  to  arrest  a  thousand 
of  the  leaders  and  send  them  out  of  the  United  States. 
Notwithstanding  this,  I  was  not  surprised  that,  after  his 
accession  to  the  presidency,  he  quarreled  with  the  most 
radical  leaders  of  the  Republican  party.  They  assumed 
to  dictate  to  him  the  policy  to  be  pursued  towards  the 
people  of  the  states  lately  in  rebellion,  and  he,  who  was 
always  impatient  of  advice,  resented  dictation  from  any 
quarter,  and  hence  the  breach  was  inevitable. 

In  addition  to  my  frequent  meetings  and  conversations 
with  the  men  whose  names  I  have  mentioned,  I  found 
other  pleasant  acquaintances  in  Nashville,  and  often  had 
interesting  adventures  in  or  near  the  picket  lines. 

The  most  important  military  affair  in  which  I  partici- 
pated was  the  surprise  of  the  Rebel  forces  at  La  Vergne, 
a  village  about  twelve  miles  from  Nashville,  in  the  di- 
rection of  Murfreesboro.  We  were  aware  of  the  fact 


128  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

that  the  place  was  occupied  by  a  considerable  force  of 
Rebel  infantry  and  cavalry,  and  General  Negley,  who 
commanded  at  Nashville,  determined  to  surprise  them. 
The  plan  of  operations  was,  that  Colonel  Miller,  of  the 
18th  Indiana  Infantry,  should,  with  four  regiments,  leave 
Nashville  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  by  a  circuit- 
ous route  reach  the  rear  of  the  enemy  at  daybreak,  while 
I,  with  Stoke 's  cavalry,  about  three  hundred  men,  and  a 
battalion  of  the  4th  Pennsylvania  Cavalry  under  Major 
Wynkoop,  and  the  27th  Illinois  Infantry  in  covered 
wagons,  should  move  at  twelve  o'clock  at  night  on  the 
direct  road  and  attack  the  enemy  as  soon  as  I  could  reach 
them.  It  was  expected  that  my  attack  would  attract  the 
attention  of  the  enemy  and  aid  Miller  in  concealing  his 
movements.  I  moved  promptly  and  marched  slowly, 
quite  willing  that  the  enemy  should  know  of  my 
movements,  while  my  long  line  of  covered  wagons  made 
my  command  resemble  a  foraging  party  covered  by 
cavalry. 

It  was  barely  daylight  when  we  encountered  the  Rebel 
pickets  and  skirmished  with  them,  waiting  for  Miller  to 
reach  the  position  he  was  to  occupy.  My  infantry  moved 
forward  and  charged  the  Rebel  outpost,  and  captured  a 
"Wiard"  gun,  and  about  that  time  we  heard  Miller's 
fire,  and  saw  the  Rebel  cavalry,  said  to  be  about  eight 
hundred  strong,  move  off  at  full  speed  to  the  southwest. 
I  had  held  Stokes  and  Wynkoop  in  hand  for  this,  and 
ordered  them  to  follow  in  pursuit. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  excitement  produced  by  the 
scene,  I  forgot  for  a  moment  the  firing  which  was  going 
on  at  the  front,  and  in  some  way  reached  the  top  of  a 
stack  of  clover  near  by,  from  which  I  saw  all  of  a  thou- 
sand horsemen,  pursuers  and  pursued,  at  full  speed  for 
three  or  four  miles.  After  the  horsemen  passed  out  of 
sight,  we  entered  the  village,  where  we  captured  about 
one  hundred  prisoners,  including  Brigadier-General 
Maury,  of  the  Rebel  army.  Forrest  was  at  Murfrees- 


ARRIVE  AT  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE.  129 

boro,  and  we  hoped  he  would  move  out  and  follow  us  on 
our  return  to  Nashville. 

During  our  occupation  of  Nashville,  I  often  rode  with 
my  escort  outside  the  picket  lines,  where  we  had  frequent 
skirmishes  with  the  Rebel  cavalry.  Sometimes  we  would 
encounter  a  party  who  were  too  strong  for  us,  and  then 
there  would  be  a  race  for  the  pickets,  with  whom  my 
party  would  unite  and  repulse  the  enemy.  Occasionally, 
we  would  capture  a  few  prisoners  and  their  horses,  and, 
as  my  escort  furnished  their  own  horses,  we  always  kept 
the  best  when  captured,  and  turned  the  poor  ones  over 
to  the  quartermaster. 

On  one  occasion,  I  took  with  me  my  escort  and  a  com- 
pany of  Michigan  infantry  mounted,  amounting  on  the 
whole  to  a  hundred  men,  and  went  out  on  the  Nolans- 
ville  "pike."  It  was  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  Nash- 
ville that  the  main  turnpikes  were  connected  by  rough 
and  incomplete  pikes.  We  went  out  some  mile  or  more 
on  the  principal  pike,  beyond  the  picket  line.  Lieuten- 
ant Hayes  was  riding  with  me,  and,  when  we  turned  to 
the  left,  in  order  to  reach  the  Murfreesboro  pike,  I  sent 
out  Lieutenant  Shaw  as  an  advance  guard,  and  soon 
heard  firing  in  my  front. 

I  had  inadvertently,  while  laughing  at  stories  told  by 
Hayes,  proceeded  to  a  greater  distance  than  I  had  in- 
tended. Shaw  came  back  and  reported  to  me  that  the 
Rebels  had  a  picket  at  the  junction  of  the  small  pike 
with  the  Murfreesboro  turnpike  and  that  we  were  within 
sight  of  the  lunatic  asylum,  six  or  eight  miles  from 
Nashville.  I  said  to  Shaw,  "We'll  wish  we  were  in  a 
lunatic  asylum  before  we  get  back  ! "  I  ordered  him  to 
"return,  attack  the  pickets  and  drive  them  away." 

As  soon  as  we  reached  the  Murfreesboro  turnpike,  I 
sent  Gilbert,  in  command  of  the  Michigan  infantry,  in 
the  direction  of  Nashville  to  see  what  was  there,  and 
ordered  Shaw  to  proceed  in  the  direction  of  the  asylum 
and  see  what  was  there.  Shaw  reported  to  me  that 
9 


130  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

there  was  about  a  battalion  on  his  front,  while  Gilbert  re- 
ported that  there  was  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  men 
between  us  and  our  pickets  on  the  Murfreesboro  pike. 
I  immediately  determined  to  make  "hot  foot"  for  our 
pickets  (one  company  of  the  22d  Illinois)  and  run  the 
risk  of  encountering  the  men  between  us  and  Nashville. 
I  said  to  Shaw,  "You  have  carbines  and  revolvers,  the 
other  fellows  have  shot-guns,  drive  them,  and  when  you 
come  back  we'll  charge  these  fellows  to  our  front." 

Pretty  soon  Shaw  had  his  company  in  motion  ;  when 
he  returned  I  put  myself  at  the  head  of  my  escort, 
charged  the  enemy  in  the  direction  of  Nashville,  broke 
through  them,  and  by  that  time  the  Rebel  cavalry  had 
come  from  the  direction  of  the  asylum,  and  we  had  a 
race  for  it.  We  rode  through  "Slip-up"  at  full  speed, 
crossed  the  bridge  over  Brown's  creek  ;  our  pickets  had 
heard  the  firing  and  came  at  double  quick  to  our  relief ; 
the  enemy  pursued  us  no  farther  ;  they  saw  the  infantry 
and  retired. 

One  incident  which  occurred  on  this  trip  is  worth  re- 
lating. While  I  was  riding  at  full  speed,  with  drawn 
saber  in  my  hand,  I  heard  a  tremendous  explosion,  and 
saw  that  it  was  from  a  double-barreled  shot-gun,  and 
felt  the  powder  in  my  face.  I  saw  before  me  a  boy, 
some  twenty  years  old,  who  had  evidently  forgotten  to 
put  the  shot  in  his  gun.  I  raised  myself  in  my  stirrups, 
determined  to  take  his  head  off,  but  he  was  so  young 
and  apparently  so  frightened  that  I  passed  the  saber 
over  his  head  and  said  to  him,  "You  miserable  rascal, 
you  meant  to  murder  me  ! "  I  heard  that  expression 
for  many  days  afterwards  from  my  escort. 


FIRST  DAY'S  BATTLE  AT  STONE  RIVER. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Diary  kept  in  Nashville — Call  from  Mr.  Trimble — Capture  of  company 
of  the  22d  Illinois — Arrival  of  Rosecrans  at  Nashville — Skirmish 
with  the  enemy — Stuart's  creek — General  Rosecrans'  erroneous  re- 
port—First day's  battle  of  Stone  River.  (1862-1863.) 

I  kept  a  brief  diary  while-  in  Nashville,  which  now 
reads  rather  racily.  Some  extracts  from  this  will  give 
a  better  idea  of  the  state  of  things  as  matters  appeared 
to  me  than  any  I  can  furnish  from  memory,  I  find  in 
the  entry  of  September  21st:  "The  owners  of  negroes 
give  me  no  rest ;  every  one  who  calls  on  me  is  a  prodigy 
of  patriotism  and  devotion  to  the  Union.  He  wants  his 
negro,  as  he  says,  not  for  his  value,  but  to  gratify  a 
longing  mother,  who  ardently  desires  that  her  son  shall 
return  to  her  and  to  slavery.  The  kind-hearted  owner 
only  wishes  to  oblige  her." 

We  had  heard  nothing  from  the  North  for  a  month, 
and  rumors  reached  us  through  Rebel  sources  like  this  : 
"Rumor  reports  that  Buckner  has  taken  Green  river 
bridge,  with  3,500  prisoners,  after  two  days'  resistance, 
and  that  Buell  had  crossed  Green  river  in  pursuit  of 
Bragg.  Another  rumor  is,  that  McClellan  has  been  de- 
feated and  killed  by  Jackson  and  Lee  near  Hagerstown, 
Maryland,  with  a  Federal  loss  of  35,000  men.  The  ru- 
mor of  Rosecrans'  defeat  by  Price  is  revived." 

On  September  26th,  I  wrote  :  "The  General  (Negley) 
does  not  feel  easy,  as  he  thinks  it  probable  that  Price  is 
after  us,  and  he  has  a  rumor  that  Breckenridge  has 
reached  Murfreesboro  with  15,000  men,  and  is  repairing 
railroads  south.  This  afternoon,  General  Negley  rode 
up  and  informed  me  that  our  pickets  on  the  Murfrees- 
boro 'pike'  were  attacked  by  a  large  force,  and  ordered 
me  to  send  out  a  regiment  of  infantry.  ...  I  rode 


132  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

out  and  found  the  attack  a  sham."  .  .  .  0:i  Octo- 
ber 3d,  I  made  another  entry,  that  seems  now  to  have 
been  prophetic  of  the  prevailing  views  at  present :  "Had 
a  visit  from  John  Trimble,  one  of  the  three  members  of 
the  Tennessee  senate  who  opposed  secession  to  the  last. 
John  Trimble,  Jordan  Stokes,  and  Mr.  East,  now  secre- 
tary of  the  state,  were  three  of  the  senators  who  stood 
out  to  the  last.  He  professes  to  be  a  follower  of  Alex- 
ander Hamilton,  and  his  ideas  of  'consolidation  and  na- 
tionality' are  as  far  from  the  true  constitutional  theory 
as  secession  is.  How  prone  we  are  to  run  to  extreme 
opinions  at  a  time  like  this  ! 

"We  shall  hereafter  be  afflicted  with  this  very  idea  in 
our  politics,  and  the  states'  rights  doctrine,  which  is  cor- 
rect, will  be  repudiated  on  account  of  its  supposed  con- 
nection with  rebellion  and  federalism,  which  is  danger- 
ous to  popular  liberty,  will  be  approved. 

"Secession,  which  is  a  mere  lawless,  revolutionary 
idea,  may  be  met  by  the  logical  method  of  resistance,  force, 
while  'nationalism'  is  deceptive  and  treacherous,  and 
by  its  silent,  concealed  effects,  steals  the  rights  of  the 
people,  and  under  cover  of  pretended  reverence  for  order 
and  peace,  subverts  constitutional  government,  and  ends 
in  despotism." 

On  October  4th  I  wrote  :  *'The  guerrillas  assailed  our 
pickets  last  night,  on  the  Franklin  pike.  In  the  saddle 
all  day.  I  have  spent  the  whole  day  in  efforts  to  find 
the  guerrillas,  but  without  success." 

"October  10th.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  mystery 
about  Rebel  movements.  Some  reports  are  that  they  are 
ordered  to  East  Tennessee ;  others  that  Forrest  is  at 
Murfreesboro  in  command  of  a  force  for  the  reduction 
of  Nashville.  My  opinion  is,  that  they  have  not  aban- 
doned all  hope  of  wresting  the  city  from  us,  though  the 
affair  at  La  Vergne  has  alarmed  them.  Last  night  head- 
quarters was  in  a  panic.  About  eleven  o'clock  a  man 
came  into  my  room,  and  announced  that  a  party  of  Rebel 
cavalry  had  come  inside  our  pickets.  I  sprang  out  of 


FIRST  DAYS  BATTLE  AT  STONE  RIVER.  133 

bed,  seized  my  clothes  to  commence  dressing,  and  then 
asked:  'How  many  are  there?'  He  answered:  'Two.' 
]  dropped  my  clothes — humbugged  by  a  frightened 
fool. 

"Sunday,  October  12th.  Rode  out  on  the  lines,  saw 
nothing,  and  came  back  at  eleven  o'clock,  found  an 
invitation  to  dine  with  Mr.  Trimble — went  down  to  his 
house  and  spent  a  delightful  afternoon.  Mr.  Trimble  is 
always  interesting.  He  thinks  John  Bell  an  able  man, 
but  always  lacked  courage ;  that  Zollicoffer  was  nar- 
row-minded, but  that  his  personal  courage  was  of  the 
highest  character ;  that  disappointed  ambition  caused 
his  political  errors.  He  entertains  contemptuous  opin- 
ions of  Governor  Harris ;  thinks  him  weak  and  timid, 
and  that  he  was  used  as  a  tool  by  Southern  leaders. 
He  characterizes  secession  as  a  'malady  resembling  mad- 
ness;' that  the  leaders  of  the  Union  people  of  Tennes- 
see were  driven  from  their  position  by  the  'audacity  and 
mendacity'  of  the  'Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,'  of 
whom  Henry  S.  Foote  was  leader  and  chief.  From  his 
accounts,  the  scenes  witnessed  in  Nashville  in  the  early 
days  of  the  spring  of  1861  were  pitiable,  all  men  cowered 
before  the  vagabond  bullies  of  treason.  Rumors  are  that 
Rosecrans  has  defeated  Price,  and  that  Buell  has  beaten 
Bragg.  The  Rebels  last  night  burned  the  bridge  over 
Stone  river,  ten  miles  from  here  on  the  Lebanon  road. 
This  looks  as  if  they  feared  a  movement  east  of  Nash- 
ville to  reach  Bragg 's  rear." 

The  diary  of  October  15th  gives  an  idea  of  the  em- 
ployment of  many  days  :  "This  morning  took  my  es- 
cort, about  twenty  cavalry  and  three  companies  from  the 
picket  reserve,  and  went  out  on  the  Murfreesboro  pike. 
About  two  miles  out,  my  advance  guard  was  fired  upon 
by  a  party.  The  advance  returned  the  fire.  I  rode  for- 
ward and  found  about  thirty  'Rebs'  in  a  clump  of  wood 
behind  a  ravine,  so  that  my  cavalry  could  not  reach 
them,  and  I  ordered  the  infantry  skirmishers  to  advance. 
When  the  enemy  saw  the  'blue  jackets'  coming,  they 


134  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

fled.  The  infantry  got  a  few  shots  at  long  range  ;  a  good 
deal  of  noise ;  no  blood ;  rode  around  the  city  in  the 
afternoon  ;  in  the  evening  read  Grotius." 

"October  16th.  .  .  .  Refugees  come  in  with 
rumors.  The  impression  seems  to  be  gaining  ground 
that  the  Rebels  are  concentrating  a  force  on  the  Mur- 
freesboro  road  to  attack  Nashville.  Some  put  their  force 
at  15,000  men.  My  opinion  is  that  they  have  not  more 
than  half  that  number,  and  that  we  will  yet  have  a  fight 
before  this  place.  Mr.  Strait,  from  Athens,  came  in 
to-day.  He  says  that  at  the  battle  of  luka,  Price  took 
nine  pieces  of  our  artillery.  No  news  from  Buell.  The 
Rebels  say  his  last  battle  with  Bragg  was  a  drawn 
game." 

"October  17th.  The  rumors  to-day  indicate  a  purpose 
on  the  part  of  the  Rebels  to  attack  us  to-morrow." 

".  .  .  October  18th.  Rose  early  this  morning  in 
order  to  be  ready  for  the  enemy.  The  morning  was 
cool ;  a  heavy  fog  concealed  everything,  so  that  it  became 
a  question  of  some  importance  as  to  how  our  pickets 
could  be  saved  in  case  of  an  attack.  I  rode  out  on  the 
line  and  made  the  best  disposition  of  them  I  could. 
The  Rebel  forces  were  about  two  thousand  men  with  two 
field  pieces.  After  a  short  skirmish,  they  fell  back  to 
the  lunatic  asylum,  about  eight  miles  from  the  city. 
Refugees  continue  to  come  in  from  Wilson,  Smith  and 
De  Kalb  counties.  They  complain  of  the  oppressions 
the  people  suffer  from  the  Rebels  in  their  counties.  We 
had  an  affair  of  pickets  on  the  Franklin  pike  this  morn- 
ing. It  did  not  amount  to  much." 

My  diary  of  the  19th  refers  to  rumors  of  Rebel  move- 
ments, and  on  the  20th,  I  wrote,  "The  rumors  of  last 
night  evaporated  with  the  rising  of  the  sun."  I  noticed 
the  results  of  an  expedition  commanded  by  Colonel 
Miller,  that  he  "routed  the  enemy  and  killed  and  cap- 
tured many."  And  then,  "The  news  from  Kentucky  is 
not  satisfactory.  Buell  seems  to  have  fought  a  bloody  bat- 
tle at  Camp  Dick  Robinson,  putting  20,000  Rebels  hors  du 


FIRST  DAYS  BATTLE  AT  STONE  RIVER.  135 

combat,  and  taking  12,000  prisoners.  'Secesh'  rumors 
turn  the  table,  and  both  lie." 

"October  21st.  This  morning  was  aroused  from  bed  by 
a  messenger  who  informed  me  that  Company  C,  22d  Illi- 
nois, on  picket  on  Murfreesboro  pike,  was  captured  and 
our  line  opened.  I  rode  out  and  found  the  report  to  be 
true.  Major  Swanwick,  Captain  Gregory,  Lieutenant 
Sennifee  and  thirty-three  non-commissioned  officers  and 
privates  were  captured  without  firing  a  gun.  The  case 
is  an  extremely  mortifying  one  to  me.  Major  Swan- 
wick  is  one  of  my  best  officers — brave  and  active,  and  a 
personal  friend.  Captain  Gregory  is  a  superior  man. 
He  had  his  men  ready  for  the  reception  of  the  enemy, 
and  told  them  to  fire,  but  Swanwick  believed  the  party 
to  be  ours  and  overruled  him.  The  Rebels,  five  times 
their  number  in  that  way,  were  allowed  to  'get  on  them 
so  that  resistance  was  useless.'  In  the  afternoon,  I  rode 
out  to  find  some  Rebels  said  to  be  on  the  Franklin  pike. 
They  were  reported  to  be  three  hundred.  We  found, 
however,  five.  Some  shots  were  exchanged,  but  nobody 
was  hurt." 

On  October  22d,  it  seems,  from  my  diary,  I  finished 
reading  "The  Life  and  Speeches  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 
It  will  illustrate  the  possible  mental  state  of  men  in  a 
beleaguered  city,  surrounded  by  enemies,  to  state  that  I 
find  in  my  diary  several  pages  of  criticism  upon  the 
public  course  of  Mr.  Douglas,  from  which  I  transcribe 
the  following  reflections  :  "Mr.  Douglas  involved  him- 
self in  hopeless  embarrassment  by  accepting  the  South- 
ern idea  of  the  extension  of  the  constitution  over  ter- 
ritories, and  of  state  equality,  and  by  accepting  the 
dogma  of  the  political  omnipotence  of  the  supreme 
court.  By  these  he  conceded  the  utmost  claims  of  one 
party  without  making  that  party  his  friends.  He  ad- 
mitted even  that  'Popular  Sovereignty'  was  only  what 
the  supreme  court  might  decide  it  to  be . 

"Thus  Mr.  Douglas  fell ;  he  failed  to  read  the  signs  of 
the  times  aright ;  he  did  not  comprehend  the  fact  that 


136  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  despotic  party  organization  he  had  assisted  to  con- 
trol so  long  had  passed  into  other  hands,  and  that  he 
was  now  to  be  torn  to  pieces  by  his  own  steeds."  He 
was  defeated  at  Charleston,  and  afterwards  by  the 
people.  He  then  saw  his  error ;  and  when  the  traitors 
who  had  defeated  him  made  their  first  demonstration 
against  the  government  he  no  longer  kept  terms  with 
them.  He  caine  back  to  the  people  of  Illinois,  who  had 
always,  in  spite  of  his  faults  and  mistakes,  loved  him,  sick 
and  broken  down  with  his  great  labor,  and  then,  as  if 
he  had  warning  of  the  near  approach  of  death,  he  threw 
his  weight  into  the  scale  on  the  side  of  the  constitution 
and  the  Union.  He  made  two  speeches  in  Illinois  of 
great  eloquence  and  power,  filled  with  fervid  love  of 
country  and  blazing  with  passionate  attachment  to 
our  free  constitutional  system  of  government.  These 
speeches  were  distributed  over  the  northwest  and 
aroused  the  country,  but  hardly  had  his  voice  ceased  to 
reverberate  in  the  hall  of  the  representatives  of  the 
state  than  it  ceased  forever.  This  first  and  noblest  son 
of  Illinois,  this  child  of  the  people,  closed  his  wonderful 
and  brief  career,  crushed  by  that  aristocracy  for  which 
he  had  unhappily  done  so  much.  The  people  in  the 
northwest,  and  especially  in  Illinois,  hung  upon  his  last 
words,  forgave  him  all  his  errors,  and  also  wept  tears 
of  unaffected  sorrow  at  his  untimely  death.  For  many 
years  I  was  his  political  foe,  but  I  loved  many  friends 
less  than  him. 

"Thursday,  October  23.  Last  night  was  called  to 
headquarters  to  discuss  with  General  Negley  the  plan 
of  a  reconnoissance  in  force  towards  La  Vergne  to  settle 
the  hundred  rumors  of  a  large  Rebel  force  on  that  line. 
We  talked  the  matter  over,  and  determined  that  Colonel 
Miller  should  march  out  on  the  road  to  La  Vergne  by 
Antioch  church  and  that  I  should  go  out  on  the  Mur- 
freesboro  pike.  I  moved  at  twelve  o'clock,  midnight, 
with  a  brigade  of  infantry,  10th,  22d  and  42d  Illinois, 
1st  Tennessee  cavalry  and  Houghteling's  battery.  I 


FIEST  DAY'S  BATTLE  AT  STONE  BIVER.  13J 

went  out  to  the  insane  asylum  with  my  whole  force, 
pushed  my  advance  three  miles  further  and  saw  small 
parties  of  the  enemy.  The  thirteen  siege  guns  in 
position  we  had  heard  so  much  of  vanished  into  thin 
air.  My  instructions  were  to  bring  in  all  the  stock 
I  could  find ;  I  did  so,  and  had  my  first  actual  ex- 
perience in  foraging.  Under  this  system  the  people 
all  suffer,  rich  and  poor ;  of  all  methods  of  providing 
for  an  army  this  is  the  most  wasteful." 

"October  25th.  Morning  cloudy  and  cold,  commenced 
raining  about  four  o'clock,  and  a  little  later  snow  com- 
menced falling  which  continued  until  about  nine 
o'clock. 

"October  26th.  The  ground  is  white  with  snow  this 
morning — this  premature  touch  of  winter  has  produced 
much  suffering  in  Nashville.  I  wrote  to  Governor 
Johnson  offering  to  assist  him  in  providing  fuel  for 
the  poor.  Many  persons  cut  wood  where  they  could 
find  it  most  conveniently  and  the  army  teams  hauled 
it  for  them. 

"October  29th.  Lieutenant  Shaw  of  my  escort  ob- 
tained leave  to  go  out  a  day  to  skirmish  with  the 
guerrillas  ;  I  thought  no  more  of  the  matter  until  even- 
ing. He  reported  that  he  went  out  on  the  Nashville 
pike  ;  met  a  party  of  about  seventy  Rebels  ;  skirmished 
with  them,  and  he  took  three  prisoners  with  their 
horses  and  arms.  On  the  next  day  (October  30th), 
sent  out  my  escort  and  Captain  Parmelee's  mounted 
men ;  they  went  out  on  the  Nolans ville  pike,  from 
thence  to  Murfreesboro  pike.  I  joined  this  party  ;  had 
a  small  skirmish  near  the  asylum,  killed  three,  wounded 
several,  took  six  prisoners  and  as  many  horses,  saddles 
and  guns." 

I  will  make  but  few  more  extracts  from  this  diary 
kept  at  Nashville.  We  heard  by  indirect  means  rumors 
of  the  battle  of  Perryville  and  the  retreat  of  Bragg  from 
Kentucky. 

November  1st   I  wrote:     "We   have   now  been   two 


138  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

months  in  the  field  ;  have  marched  from  Alabama  to 
this  city,  and  have  remained  here  without  communica- 
tion with  the  North ;  we  have  lived  upon  the  country, 
and  have  really  desolated  it ;  the  military  situation 
grows  more  difficult  everyday  ;  the  country  is  exhausted  ; 
the  Rebel  strength  is  increasing  around  us,  and  the  sup- 
plies are  more  remote,  and  our  marches  to  obtain  them 
longer  and  more  dangerous ;  'General  Buell,  the  slow- 
paced,' is  still  in  Kentucky;  Bragg  has  had  time  to 
complete  his  winter  arrangements  for  the  supply  of  his 
army,  and  may,  for  anything  we  know  to  the  contrary, 
pay  us  a  visit." 

November  3d.  "Rumors  thicken  of  two  things  im- 
portant to  us,  the  one  is  that  the  Rebels  are  ad- 
vancing in  large  force ;  and  the  other,  of  the  march  of 
General  Rosecrans  towards  this  city ;  his  arrival  may 
happen  to-morrow  or  Wednesday.  This  breaks  the  long 
blockade  to  which  we  have  been  subjected,  and  we  hope 
for  letters  and  papers  from  home." 

It  will  be  noticed  that  after  November  1st,  and  before 
the  3d,  news  had  reached  Nashville  that  Rosecrans  had 
succeeded  Buell  in  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Cumberland,  and  was  approaching  Nashville.  Our  in- 
formation led  us  to  expect  that  Nashville  would  be  at- 
tacked by  the  enemy  in  force,  before  the  arrival  of  the 
advancing  army. 

November  5th  I  wrote:  "Last  night,  after  going  to 
bed,  heard  occasional  shots  on  the  picket  line  ;  later  was 
awakened  by  a  heavy  firing  on  the  Murfreesboro  road  ; 
mounted  and  off — ordered  the  22d  Illinois  to  go  out  as  a 
reserve.  When  I  got  to  the  lines,  I  found  that  two 
posts  had  been  attacked,  and  several  men  wounded.  I 
took  direction  of  the  line,  and  as  I  heard  sounds  indicat- 
ing the  presence  of  artillery,  ordered  the  pickets  to  re- 
tire behind  some  temporary  works,  some  hundred  yards 
to  the  rear,  where  they  joined  the  reserve,  and  the  22d 
Illinois,  which  by  this  time  had  reached  the  ground. 
Within  a  few  minutes  the  Rebels  had  commenced  firing  ; 


FIRST  DAY'S  BATTLE  AT  STONE  RIVER.  139 

after  a  severe  contest  we  drove  them  back  ;  it  was  very 
dark,  and  we  suffered  no  injury  of  consequence.  The 
enemy  opened  one  piece  of  artillery  upon  us,  but  made 
no  impression ;  they  also  attacked  the  pickets  at  other 
points  without  success ;  they  suffered  a  bloody  repulse 
at  the  Nolansville  pike,  at  the  hands  of  two  companies 
of  the  10th  Illinois.  About  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning 
General  Negley  went  out  with  three  regiments  of  in- 
fantry, and  some  cavalry  and  artillery,  and  drove  the 
Rebels  as  far  as  Brentwood.  On  his  return  he  had  a  noisy 
artillery  fight  and  some  sharp  skirmishing  in  which  he 
suffered  some  loss.  The  feint,  by  which  he  was  drawn 
out  of  our  defensive  line,  was  very  nearly  successful. 
The  general  was  caught  'napping,'  and  for  a  few  hours 
the  city  seemed  to  be  in  danger,  for  it  appeared  for  a 
time  that  I  would  be  compelled  to  abandon  Nashville  to 
save  him.  As  it  was,  I  reenforced  him  with  Morgan's 
regiment  of  infantry,  the  10th,  and  three  pieces  of  ar- 
tillery. On  the  other  side  of  the  river,  John  Morgan,  in 
an  attempt  to  reach  and  destroy  the  railroad  bridge  over 
the  Cumberland,  rode  over  one  company  of  the  16th  Il- 
linois, but  the  company  cut  its  way  back,  inflicting  more 
loss  on  him  than  they  sustained.  Before  reaching  the 
bridge  he  encountered  the  remainder  of  the  16th,  and  was 
repulsed.  He  burned  one  house,  and  then  run,  my 
troops  all  behaving  splendidly." 

On  November  7th  the  troops  composing  the  advance 
of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  began  to  arrive  at  Nash- 
ville ;  I  find  that  after  visiting  friends  among  the  new 
arrivals,  I  wrote  in  my  Journal ;  "In  camp,  day  pleas- 
ant, no  work,  no  news." 

"November  14th.  Letters  from  home  and  newspapers 
from  Illinois  have  begun  to  reach  camp."  I  had  noth- 
ing definite  from  Illinois  since  leaving  home  on  August 
26th,  and  it  can  well  be  imagined  that  the  contents  of 
the  papers  detailing  the  results  of  the  election  in  Illinois, 
held  on  November  4th,  astonished  me.  When  I  left 
home,  although  I  felt  very  little  interest  in  party  poli- 


140  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

tics,  I  had  supposed  nothing  better  assured  than  the  as- 
cendancy of  the  Republican  party  (to  which  I  was  then 
attached)  in  Illinois.  The  first  paper  I  opened  was  a 
copy  of  the  Illinois  Journal,  and  to  my  astonishment  I 
found  that  John  T.  Stuart  had  defeated  Leonard  Swett 
for  congress ;  Alexander  Starne  had  beaten  William 
Butler  for  treasurer,  and  that  James  C.  Allen,  whom 
I  knew,  a  Democrat,  had  carried  the  state,  defeating  E. 
C.  Ingersoll,  a  Republican.  It  was  also  reported  in  the 
paper  that  the  Democrats  had  carried  both  branches  of 
the  legislature.  I  did  not  understand  the  significance  of 
what  appeared  to  be  a  great  change  in  public  opinion  in 
Illinois,  and  have  never  been  able  to  account  for  the 
Democratic  victory  of  that  year. 

Within  a  few  days,  the  whole  Army  of  the  Cumberland 
reached  Nashville,  and  operations  were  resumed  with 
great  activity.  I  remained  in  Nashville,  still  retaining 
my  command,  until  the  10th  of  December,  when  the 
division  with  which  I  had  marched  from  the  Tennessee 
river  was,  for  some  reason  and  much  to  my  dissatisfac- 
tion and  regret,  broken  up,  and  I  was  assigned  to  the 
command  of  the  division  formerly  commanded  by  Gen- 
eral Wm.  Nelson,  who  was  killed  by  General  Jeff  C. 
Davis,  in  the  preceding  September,  in  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky. 

On  taking  command  of  the  division,  I  relieved  General 
Wm.  Sooy  Smith,  who  has  since  won  so  much  distinction 
as  an  engineer.  The  division  was  composed  of  three  bri- 
gades ;  the  first  was  commanded  by  Brigadier-General 
Chas.  Cruft ;  the  second  by  Colonel  Wm.  Gross,  of  the 
36th  Indiana ;  and  the  third  by  Colonel  Wm.  B.  Hazen, 
of  the  41st  Ohio.  These  officers  retained  command  of 
these  brigades,  and  served  with  me  from  that  time  until 
after  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  in  1863.  Cruft  and 
Gross  were  civilians,  but  they  were  brave  and  skillful 
officers ;  Hazen  belonged  to  the  regular  army,  no  one 
doubted  his  courage,  he  was  skillful  beyond  a  question, 
but  he  was  vain  and  selfish  ;  it  was  difficult  for  those 


FIRST  DAY'S  BATTLE  AT  STONE  RIVER.  141 

who  associated  with  him  constantly  to  do  justice  to  his 
merits.  The  division  was  about  4,500  strong,  many  of 
the  regiments  were  organized  early  in  the  war,  and  had 
done  good  service  in  West  Virginia  and  Shiloh,  and 
also  in  the  campaign  in  Kentucky  in  the  fall  of  1862. 
My  assignment  to  this  command  separated  me  from 
nearly  all  my  acquaintances,  and  brought  me  in  contact 
with  many  officers  with  whom  I  afterwards  contracted 
the  most  sincere  friendship. 

I  have  spoken  of  General  Wm.  S.  Rosecrans,  who  was 
in  command  of  the  army,  elsewhere,  and  will  now  only 
say  of  him  that  his  gallantry  and  good  conduct  in  the 
battles  around  Corinth,  in  October  last,  obtained  for  him 
the  confidence  of  the  president,  and  his  consequent  se- 
lection to  succeed  Buell,  who  was  unfortunate,  to  say  the 
least,  in  his  operations  in  Kentucky.  Rosecrans  also 
possessed  the  confidence  of  the  army  he  led  to  Nashville, 
and  his  actual  preparations  for  an  early  advance  to 
meet  the  Rebel  army,  which  was  by  this  time  in  motion 
to  concentrate  at  Murfreesboro,  had  a  fine  effect  upon  the 
troops  who  had  occupied  Nashville. 

The  army  was  termed  the  "14th  Army  Corps,"  and 
its  divisions  were  called  the  "center"  and  the  "right  and 
left  wings"  of  the  corps.  Thomas  commanded  the  cen- 
ter, McCook  the  right,  and  Crittenden  the  left  wing  of 
the  army.  The  divisions  of  the  left  wing  were,  the  1st, 
"Wood's  ;  the  2d,  my  own  ;  and  the  3d,  Van  Cleve's  ;  and 
Wood  and  Van  Cleve  and  I  ranked  in  the  numerical  order 
of  our  divisions.  On  the  10th  of  December,  I  assumed 
the  command  of  my  new  division,  and,  when  I  reported 
to  General  Crittenden,  and  afterward  to  General  Rose- 
crans, I  learned  that  the  purpose  of  the  general-in-chief 
was  to  advance  upon  the  enemy  and  bring  him  to  battle 
at  the  earliest  possible  day. 

I  devoted  myself  from  that  time  forward  to  prepara- 
tion for  the  expected  movement>  and,  with  the  aid  of 
my  brigade  commanders,  all  of  whom  were  soldiers  of 
experience,  my  division  was,  on  the  25th  of  December, 


142  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  last  day  we  spent  in  the  camp  near  Nashville,  in  ex- 
cellent condition  for  service.  On  December  26,  1862,  my 
division  moved  out  on  the  Murfreesboro  turnpike,  in  ad- 
vance of  the  left  wing  of  the  army. 

I  was  familiar  with  the  country  as  far  as  La  Vergne, 
and  for  that  reason  advanced  with  confidence.  After  a 
march  of  eight  miles,  we  encountered  the  Rebel  cavalry 
under  Wheeler,  who  had  a  few  pieces  of  light  artillery. 
They  contested  several  points  on  the  road  with  a  good 
deal  of  stubbornness,  but  in  every  case,  after  a  short  delay 
until  troops  could  be  brought  up  and  formed,  we  drove 
them  before  us  without  much  difficulty  or  loss.  We 
halted  and  spent  the  night  of  the  26th  of  December  at 
La  Vergne,  and  the  orders  issued  by  General  Crittenden 
that  night,  with  reference  to  the  march  next  day,  had  a 
most  important  influence  upon  my  military  future. 

I  learned,  after  going  into  camp,  that  my  position  on 
the  right  of  the  advancing  column  was  obtained  for  me 
by  my  misunderstanding  of  the  orders  under  which  I 
started  in  the  morning.  The  order,  as  I  understood  it, 
was  to  move  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  in  that 
sense  I  obeyed  it,  by  putting  the  head  of  my  column  in 
motion  as  soon  as  the  hour  arrived.  General  Wood,  who 
commanded  the  First  Division,  was  entitled  to  the  right, 

7  o        " 

but  he  understood  the  same  order  to  be,  "Be  ready  to 
move  at  eight  o'clock."  The  result  was  that  when  he 
was  ready  to  move  my  column  was  in  possession  of  the 
road,  and  kept  it  during  the  day. 

The  order  issued  by  General  Crittenden  at  night  di- 
rected me  to  move  next  morning  after  General  Wood 
had  passed  me.  The  consequence  was,  that  the  next 
morning  my  command  waited  until  that  of  Wood  had 
passed,  and  then  we  moved  forward,  following  his  move- 
ments until  the  army  reached  Stewart's  creek,  some  few 
miles  from  the  town  of  Murfreesboro. 

As  General  Wood  reached  the  creek,  he  was  attracted 
by  some  elevated,  open  land,  on  the  left  of  the  turnpike, 
upon  which  was  a  large  and  apparently  comfortable 


FIRST  DAY'S  BATTLE  AT  STONE  RIVER.  143 

dwelling-house,  and  some  outhouses,  which  made  the 
place  admirably  suited  .for  quarters.  Forgetting  his 
claim  to  the  right  of  the  line,  he  moved  off  to  the  left 
of  the  line  of  march  to  occupy  the  pleasant  place,  so 
that  when  my  command  came  up  we  were  compelled  to 
move  down  Stewart's  creek,  and  occupy  some  rocky, 
lowland,  which  had  but  one  advantage, — that  by  cross- 
ing the  creek  to  my  front,  we  could  reach  the  turn- 
pike easier  than  by  returning  to  the  bridge.  We  re- 
mained in  camp  at  Stewart's  creek  one  day,  awaiting  the 
movements  of  the  troops  to  our  right,  who  were  also 
moving  to  meet  the  enemy,  who,  we  were  informed, 
were  waiting  at  and  near  Murfreesboro,  prepared  to  fight 
a  battle  upon  ground  selected  by  themselves. 

On  Monday  morning,  we  had  orders  to  move,  and  I 
crossed  the  creek  to  my  front,  and  reached  the  road  with 
my  column,  when  General  Wood  overtook  me,  and,  as 
my  superior,  ordered  me  to  move  out  of  the  road  and 
allow  his  troops  to  precede  me.  This  order  I  refused  to 
obey,  as  General  Crittenden,  our  corps  commander  was 
with  the  troops,  and  controlled  the  movements  of  the 
column.  General  Wood,  however,  brought  up  a  brigade, 
and  he  took  the  left  of  the  pike,  and  we  marched  pari- 
passu,  as  he  said,  until  sundown,  when  we  came  in  sight 
of  the  enemy  in  line  of  battle  between  us  and  Murfrees- 
boro. 

Here  occurred  one  of  those  incidents  which,  though 
in  itself  as  it  resulted  is  comparatively  unimportant,  be- 
longs to  a  class  of  events  which  affect  the  fate  of  armies. 
Wood  and  I  halted  'our  troops,  and  rode  some  distance 
to  the  front,  to  a  point  which  we  could  see  the  enemy 
in  strong  force,  evidently  prepared  to  receive  us.  While 
observing  the  enemy's  forces  and  position,  we  were  sur- 
prised to  receive  through  General  Crittenden,  from  Gen- 
eral Rosecrans,  an  order,  in  substance,  as  follows  :  "Stan- 
ley reports  from  Triune  that  the  people  say  that  Bragg 
has  abandoned  Murfreesboro.  You  will  therefore  occupy 


144  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  place  with  one  division,  and  camp  your  others  near 
them." 

Of  course,  General  Wood  and  I  knew  the  information 
which  purported  to  come  through  General  Stanley  was 
erroneous.  We,  therefore,  rode  back,  found  General 
Crittenden,  explained  to  him,  and  he  communicated  our 
report  to  General  Rosecrans,  who  promptly  withdrew 
the  order.  Now  comes  the  strange  part  of  the  trans- 
action. General  Crittenden  was  told  the  next  day  that  I 
had  informed  him  (Rosecrans)  that  the  enemy  had  evacu- 
ated Murfreesboro.  I  called  upon  General  Rosecrans  the 
same  day  and  told  him  that  I  had  made  no  report  to 
him  on  any  subject  whatever,  and  reminded  him  that 
the  order  itself  purported  to  be  based  upon  information 
which  came  through  General  Stanley. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  General  Rosecrans,  in  his 
official  report,  attributes  his  order  to  information  fur- 
nished him  by  me  as  commanding  Crittenden 's  leading 
division.  The  fact  that  General  Wood  and  I  were  actu- 
ally observing  the  enemy  when  we  received  the  order, 
ought  to  afford  conclusive  evidence  that  General  Rose- 
crans was  wholly  mistaken  in  his  facts. 

On  December  29,  1862,  the  left  wing  of  the  army 
reached  the  theater  of  the  subsequent  battle  of  Mur- 
freesboro, or  Stone  River,  as  it  is  sometimes  designated. 
On  the  30th,  the  troops  to  our  right  moved  up,  and  after 
some  heavy  skirmishing  got  into  position. 

It  was  in  the  main  quiet  on  our  front,  although  the 
artillery  on  both  sides  was  engaged  at  intervals  during 
the  forenoon.  The  left  wing  of  the  army,  which  was 
commanded  by  Crittenden,  was  composed  of  three  di- 
visions which  were  commanded  by  Brigadier-General 
Thomas  J.  Wood,  Horatio  P.  Van  Cleve  and  myself. 
Van  Cleve  was  on  the  extreme  left,  Wood  in  the  center, 
and  my  division  on  the  right.  Wood's  right  and  my 
left  rested  on  the  turnpike  from  Nashville  to  Murfrees- 
boro, and  the  railroad  which  connects  those  places,  a 
short  distance  to  the  north,  was  within  Wood's  line. 


FIRST  DAY'S  BATTLE  AT  STONE  RIVER.  145 

Hazen's  brigade,  with  its  left  on  the  pike,  had  an  open 
cotton  field  to  its  front,  while  the  brigade  commanded  by 
Brigadier-General  Chas.  Cruft  extended  into  the  dense 
cedars  to  the  right.  Gross'  brigade  was  held  in  re- 
serve. 

The  line  of  battle  was  extended  to  the  right  by  Neg- 
ley's  division  of  the  14th  Corps  ;  on  the  center  by  Sheri- 
dan, Davis  and  Johnson's  division  of  the  right  wing  in 
succession.  The  right  retired  until  our  line  of  battle 
from  left  to  right  formed  something  like  the  fourth  of  a 
circle.  Some  open  grounds  were  to  our  front,  but  on 
our  right  there  was  a  dense  mass  of  cedars  in  which 
troops  could  not  operate,  although  the  woods  were  tra- 
versed by  several  narrow,  country  roads. 

The  battle  of  December  30th  has  been  described  so 
often  in  official  reports  and  otherwise  that  I  will  only  at- 
tempt to  narrate  such  events  as  may  be  regarded  as  per- 
sonal to  myself. 

About  daylight,  I  heard  heavy  firing  on  our  extreme 
right,  obviously  indicating  that  Johnson  was  vigorously 
attacked  by  the  enemy.  I  at  once  rode  to  my  own  com- 
mand, and  a  short  time  after  reaching  it,  I  observed  that 
our  troops  on  the  extreme  right  were  being  driven  back, 
and  that  the  commands  of  Davis  and  Sheridan  and  Neg- 
ley  were  being  assaulted  with  great  force,  and  that  the 
attack  was  being  extended  from  our  right  until  after 
a  time  I  saw  a  strong  force  advancing  to  attack  my 
troops. 

I  have  already  stated  that  there  was  an  open  cotton 
field  in  front  of  Hazen's  brigade,  across  which  I  could 
see  the  Rebel  forces  advancing  in  solid  lines  and  moving 
in  admirable  order.  It  was  not  easy  to  witness  that 
magnificent  array  of  Americans  without  emotion.  They 
came  on  grandly  until  within  musket  shot,  and  then,  for 
a  length  of  time,  brief,  it  is  true,  but  we  took  no  note 
of  time,  they  were  thrown  into  confusion  by  our  fire, 
10 


146  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

and  retired  to  reform  and  renew  the  attack,  and  were 
again  repulsed. 

When  I  again  turned  my  attention  to  other  parts  of 
the  field,  I  found  our  right  and  center  had  been  taken  in 
flank  and  driven  back  through  the  cedars  in  disorder. 
Rousseau's  division  of  Thomas'  command  attempted  to 
enter  the  woods  to  our  right,  but  were  unable  to  form, 
and  fell  back  in  disorder,  and  the  enemy  were  struggling 
to  reach  the  turnpike  in  our  rear  and  take  our  position 
in  reverse.  General  Rosecrans,  whose  courage  upon  a 
battlefield  was  always  magnificent,  exposed  himself  at 
many  points  to  rally  his  forces.  A  new  line  was  formed 
at  right  angles  to  my  line,  and  within  a  few  minutes, 
Captain  Mendenhall,  chief  of  artillery  of  Crittenden's 
command,  collected  some  sixty  pieces  of  artillery  on  a 
knoll  to  my  right  rear,  and  with  them  literally  drove 
the  Rebels  back  into  the  woods,  where  they  remained  to 
avoid  the  consuming  fire,  and  this  closed  the  battle  for 
the  day. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  describe  this  battle  in  detail, 
but  I  think  some  of  its  minor  incidents  may  be  inter- 
esting. When  absent  for  a  time  with  the  right  of  my 
command,  Van  Cleve  and  Wood  were  withdrawn  from 
the  left  to  support  the  right,  the  situation  of  which  I 
have  described. 

On  my  return,  I  ordered  Hazen  to  move  to  the  left  to 
the  railroad  cut. 

This  movement,  which  was  made  after  Wood  left  the 
ground,  subsequently  led  to  a  bitter  controversy  be- 
tween Generals  Stanley  and  Hazen,  and  a  court  martial 
in  which  Wood  was  a  witness.  Wood  testified  truly 
that  the  right  of  his  command  rested  on  the  turnpike, 
and  that  Hazen 's  left  united  with  him  on  the  pike.  He 
did  not  know  that  after  his  division  withdrew,  Hazen 
moved  to  his  left  and  covered  the  ground  between  the 
pike  and  the  railroad  cut,  which  greatly  improved  his 
position. 

Before  a  court  martial  in  New  York,  I  so  testified,  and 


I      I 


FIRST  DAY'S  BATTLE  AT  STONE  RIVER.  147 

in  that  way  explained  a  discrepancy  which  otherwise 
seemed  to  the  court  insurmountable.  In  the  battle, 
General  Rosecrans  exhibited  the  greatest  personal 
bravery.  Colonel  Garesche  was  killed  by  a  cannon  shot 
at  his  side,  and  his  blood  and  brains  were  scattered  over 
Rosecrans.  He  never  blanched,  and  kept  his  position. 
I  made  up  my  mind  then,  that  if  I  was  about  to  fight  a 
battle  for  the  dominion  of  the  universe,  I  would  give 
Rosecrans  the  command  of  as  many  men  as  he  could 
see  and  who  could  see  him. 

In  the  afternoon,  my  division  was  withdrawn  from  the 
position  it  held  in  the  morning,  and  took  its  place  in  a 
new  line  of  battle  a  few  hundred  yards  to  the  rear. 

On  December  31st,  all  was  quiet  along  our  front.  We 
heard  fighting  away  to  our  right  and  rear,  for  "Wheeler 
with  his  cavalry  had  passed  our  right,  captured  our  hos- 
pital and  a  wagon  train.  He  failed  to  do  much  mischief. 
Stanley,  with  our  cavalry,  watched  him  closely,  and 
made  him  let  go  of  our  line  of  communication. 


148  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Battle  of  Stone  River  continued — Military  eloquence — Cripple  Creek — 
An  acquaintance — Mrs.  Morgan's  dress — Invitation  to  breakfast — 
Skirmish  with  Rebel  cavalry — General  Garfield — Letter  to  Assistant 
Adjutant  General — Political  situation  at  the  North — A  prudent 
preacher. 

On  January  1,  1863,  early  in  the  day,  it  was  apparent 
that  the  enemy  intended  to  assail  our  left,  which  had 
moved  to  the  north  side  of  Stone  river.  We  had  ob- 
served troops  moving  in  strong  force  from  the  enemy's 
left  to  their  right.  About  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
Lieutenant  John  E.  Shaw,  of  my  escort,  climbed  a  tree, 
which  enabled  him  to  overlook  the  movements  of  the 
Rebel  forces. 

After  closely  observing  them  for  a  short  time,  he  des- 
cended, and  told  me  they  were  forming  for  an  attack 
upon  our  troops  on  the  north  side  of  the  river.  We  had 
five  or  six  batteries  on  an  elevated  point  south  of  the 
river,  supported  by  a  portion  of  my  command,  especially 
the  6th  Kentucky  Infantry.  I  rode  rapidly  to  the  sup- 
porting force  and  thrilled  them  with  my  eloquence.  I 
said  :  "Now,  6th  Kentucky,  you  have  work  to  do ;  stand 
up  to  them,  and  you  may  steal  for  six  months  !"  This 
was  military  eloquence,  for  it  was  spoken  by  a  com- 
mander who  was  present  with  his  men.  It  was  sur- 
passed only  by  the  speech  of  Captain  Peden,  of  the  36th 
Indiana,  the  day  before  when  told  by  his  first  sergeant 
that  "they  are  flanking  us."  "Flank  you! — you 

cowardly  ,  and  mind  your  business  1 "  It  was  in 

the  midst  of  a  desperate  fight,  but  all  of  us  laughed,  and 
we  won  the  fight. 

Napoleon,  and  some  of  our  generals  in  the  late  civil 
war,  indulged  in  lofty  language,  but  I  found  in  the  battle 
of  Stone  river  and  on  many  other  occasions,  that  the 


BATTLE  OF  CRIPPLE  CREEK.  149 

most  impressive  words  were  those  spoken  by  an  officer 
who  was  present  with  his  men  in  the  battle.  In  the  at- 
tack on  our  left  the  "Rebs"  fought  as  they  usually  did, 
with  great  gallantry,  but  our  guns  south  of  the  river  en- 
filaded their  lines  from  their  left.  I  never  saw  a  greater 
number  of  men  and  horses  killed  than  there  was  upon  a 
few  acres  of  ground  covered  by  the  Rebel  advance,  on 
the  north  side  of  Stone  river.  Wounds  inflicted  by 
musketry  rarely  disfigure,  but  artillery  wounds  are 
ghastly.  I  saw  there  men  and  horses  killed — I  cannot 
describe  the  scene.  We  perhaps  ought,  after  their  de- 
feat, to  have  followed  the  Rebels  and  driven  them  out  of 
Murfreesboro,  but  we  did  not  pursue  them.  They 
abandoned  the  town  and  fell  back  to  the  line  of  Tulla- 
homa. 

A  few  days  afterwards  my  division  passed  through 
Murfreesboro,  and  encamped  east  of  town,  on  the  farm 
of  a  man  named  Beard,  who  had  relatives  in  Carlinville, 
Illinois.  Mr.  Beard's  farm  was  fenced  with  cedar  rails  ; 
I  did  my  best  to  save  them,  but  I  suppose  that  after  my 
command  left,  the  farm  was  stripped  of  fences.  Soon  after 
we  entered  Murfreesboro  I  was  ordered  to  send  one  of 
my  brigades  to  a  place  called  "Cripple  Creek."  I  sent 
Crufts'  brigade  to  that  place,  and  the  troops  found  it  al- 
together preferable  to  the  open  grounds  east  of  Murfrees- 
boro. The  main  force  of  the  Rebels  was  at  Tullahoma, 
Manchester  and  McMinnville,  but  they  had  advanced 
posts  at  Shelby ville,  Woodbury  and  other  points  to  their 
front. 

In  January,  1863,  the  Rebel  position  at  Woodbury  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  commander  of  the  army,  and 
I  was  ordered  to  dislodge  them  and  drive  them  out  of 
town.  Cruft  with  his  brigade  was  then,  as  I  have  before 
stated,  at  Cripple  Creek,  some  eight  miles  from  Mur- 
freesboro, on  the  route  to  Woodbury ;  I  therefore  took 
with  me  the  bulk  of  my  division,  Hazen's  and  Gross' 
brigades,  leaving  in  camp  sufficient  guard  and  the  men 
who  were  not  in  good  condition,  and  moved  to  Cripple 


150  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Creek  and  spent  the  night  there.  The  next  morning  I 
moved  with  all  my  active  force  and  crossed  Stone  river 
at  Ready ville,  and  marched  by  the  turnpike  toward 
Woodbury. 

About  a  mile  northwest  of  that  place  I  encountered  a 
force  of  a  few  hundred  men  who  were  behind  a  stone 
fence .  I  could  easily  j  udge  of  their  numbers  by  the  volume 
of  their  fire.  They  inflicted  some  loss  upon  me  before  I 
discovered  the  strength  of  their  position.  I  then  with- 
drew my  main  force,  threw  forward  a  line  of  skirmish- 
ers, and  under  the  cover  of  a  hill  which  concealed  the 
movement,  turned  their  right  with  two  regiments.  This 
movement  dislodged  them  ;  they  broke  and  fled  through 
the  town.  It  was  expected  that  Wilder,  with  his 
mounted  men,  would  have  reached  the  rear  of  the 
enemy  before  we  made  our  attack,  but  he  failed  to  do  so. 

Colonel  Hutchinson,  of  one  of  the  Rebel  cavalry 
regiments,  and  a  few  others  were  killed  in  this  affair, 
but  we  captured  no  prisoners  ;  I  could  only  pursue  them 
with  infantry.  I  passed  through  the  little  town  of 
Woodbury,  found  no  enemy,  and  as  it  was  then  rain- 
ing I  determined  to  return  to  Readyville  and  recross  the 
river. 

When  I  reached  Readyville,  where  I  met  my  wagon 
with  supplies,  I  rode  up  to  a  large  one  story  brick  house, 
and  when  I  called,  a  lady  came  to  the  door.  I  asked  her 
if  I  might  occupy  one  of  her  rooms  for  the  night ;  she 
answered  me  with  tartness,  "No."  I  then  said  to  her, 
"It  is  raining,  and  I  will  be  compelled  to  pitch  my  tent 
in  your  yard,  and  you  will  be  sorry  for  me  when  you 
see  me  sitting  out  in  the  air."  I  also  told  her,  "My 
wagon  is  up— I  have  some  flour,  good  ham  and  some 
coffee,  and  you  Southern  ladies  always  have  good  cooks 
about  your  houses.  Won't  you  let  me  occupy  one  of 
your  rooms,  let  me  furnish  the  flour,  ham  and  coffee  and 
then  take  supper  with  me ;  I  have  not  sat  at  a  table  with 
a  lady  for  six  months?"  After  saying  this,  as  the 
phrase  goes,  "I  saw  that  I  had  her."  She  said,  "I 


BATTLE  OF  CRIPPLE  CREEK. 

know  that  you  will  come  in  anyhow  whether  I  consent 
or  not."  I  did  go  in,  and  had  an  excellent  supper,  at 
which  she  presided. 

In  the  course  of  our  conversation  I  learned  that  she 
was  the  niece  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Palmer,  who  was  a 
member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1847  (of 
which  I  had  also  been  a  member),  and  of  the  Rev. 
Frank  Palmer,  once  of  Jacksonville,  and  remotely  of 
"kin"  to  me,  according  to  Virginia  and  Kentucky  rules 
for  computing  kinship. 

During  the  evening  I  learned  that  Hattie  McMillen, 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Edward  McMillen,  who  had  once 
visited  my  family  in  Illinois,  lived  two  or  three  miles 
from  Readyville.  She  was  married  in  Illinois  and 
settled  in  Tennessee.  Her  husband  was  a  major  in  one 
of  the  Rebel  regiments  we  had  fought  the  day  before.  I 
took  with  me  my  escort  of  about  fifty  cavalry,  and 
guided  by  the  son  of  the  lady  at  whose  house  I  had 
spent  the  night,  I  rode  to  her  residence,  posting  videttes 
to  observe  the  surrounding  country  and  prevent  a  sur- 
prise. I  went  into  the  house,  and,  to  my  surprise,  she 
was  so  frightened  that  she  did  not  know  me.  I  told  her 
my  name,  but  she  did  not  recover ;  I  then  guessed  the 
cause  of  her  fright,  her  husband  was  concealed  in  the 
house,  and  both  of  them  supposed  we  had  come  to 
capture  him.  I  did  my  utmost  to  reassure  her ;  I  told 
her  I  was  incapable  of  coming  to  visit  her  for  the  pur- 
pose of  taking  her  husband ;  I  saw  that  notwithstand- 
ing my  assurance  she  felt  relieved  when  I  left  the  place. 
She  afterwards  with  her  sister  dined  with  me  at  Cripple 
Creek,  and  "owned  up"  that  her  husband  was  in  the 
house  and  heard  all  that  I  said  to  her. 

Perhaps  I  may  as  well  tell  the  sequel  to  my  acquaint- 
ance with  the  lady  with  whom  I  found  myself  to  be  akin 
at  Readyville.  She  was  the  sister  of  Hon.  Charles 
Ready,  of  Murfreesboro,  whose  daughter  married  John 
H.  Morgan,  the  chief  of  so  many  raids  upon  the  Union 
lines. 


152  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Mrs.  Talley,  whose  name  I  may  as  well  give  here, 
had  a  daughter  with  whom  I  sang  plantation  melodies 
after  my  return  from  Woodbury,  she  was  a  pupil  of  the 
Woodbury  schools. 

General  Hazen,  whose  brigade  was  afterwards  posted 
at  Readysville,  refused  to  allow  her  to  cross  the  lines 
without  an  examination  of  her  trunk.  My  "cousin" 
said,  "General,  you  know  that  my  daughter,  a  little 
girl,  don't  like  to  have  her  trunks  examined  by  men." 
I  remembered  that  I  had  daughters  at  home  ;  I  ordered 
Hazen  to  allow  the  young  lady  to  pass  to  Woodbury 
without  an  examination  of  her  trunks.  Soon  afterwards 
she  passed  through  the  lines  without  examination,  and 
I  next  heard  of  her  over  in  the  Tennessee  Valley,  and 
she  carried  with  her  a  silk  dress  for  Mrs.  Morgan.  She 
cheated  me  of  course,  but  when  Hazen,  who  was  then  a 
bachelor,  complained  to  me  of  my  order  which  allowed 
the  little  girl  to  pass  beyond  the  lines  without  a  search 
of  her  trunk,  I  said  to  him,  "That  any  information  she 
could  give  Morgan  would  probably  mislead  him,  and  I 
was  glad  that  Mrs.  Morgan  had  got  her  silk  dress  !" 

In  February  of  the  same  year,  I  received  a  telegram 
from  Governor  Yates  asking  me  to  return  home  as  he 
had  with  me  "business  of  importance."  I  came  to 
Springfield  after  stopping  over  one  train  with  my  family 
at  Carlinville.  After  reaching  the  city  I  met  Governor 
Yates  and  Dr.  Fithian  of  Danville,  who  was  provost 
marshal  of  his  congressional  district,  and  read  many 
letters  which  the  governor  had  received  which  indicated 
great  danger  of  an  uprising  of  the  "Knights  of  the 
Golden  Circle,"  and  probably  other  disloyal  organiza- 
tions. The  letters  were  written  in  January  and  Febru- 
ary, and  by  persons  who  were  loyal  to  the  government 
of  the  United  States,  and  some  of  the  writers  advised 
the  governor  to  raise  four  or  five  more  regiments  of  cav- 
alry for  "service  in  the  state." 

I  found  the  governor  thoroughly  alarmed  on  account 
of  these  letters,  and  he  assigned  to  me  the  duty  of  going 


BATTLE  OF  CRIPPLE  CREEK.          153 

to  Washington  and  consulting  the  president  and  secre- 
tary of  war  as  to  the  propriety  of  raising  a  number  of 
regiments  for  service  in  the  State  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  in  response  to  the  letter  of  the  governor, 
handed  him  by  me,  answered  with  one  of  his  jokes  which 
cannot  be  repeated,  and  said  :  "Who  can  we  trust  if  we 
can't  trust  Illinois !"  and  referred  me  to  the  secretary  of 
war.  The  president  also  asked  me,  "How  the  boys  re- 
ceived his  proclamation?"  I  told  him  that  we  thought 
he  ought  to  have  said  to  negroes  :  "Arise,  Peter,  slay  and 
eat."  He  said  :  "You  were  all  opposed  to  the  proclama- 
tion when  it  was  first  issued,  were  you  not?"  I  replied  : 
"Yes."  "Well,  don't  you  see  that  on  an  average  I  am 
about  right?" 

I  called  on  the  secretary  of  war  (Mr.  Stan  ton)  as  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  proposed,  and  after  I  told  him  my  business 
was  from  Governor  Yates,  and  that  he  asked  authority 
to  raise  four  regiments  of  cavalry  for  service  in  Illinois, 
he  said :  "You  are  to  command  these  troops,  are  you 
not?"  and  when  I  replied,  "No,  I  am  not,  and  would  re- 
fuse the  command  of  troops  raised  for  service  in  my  own 
state  and  amongst  my  own  people.  I  have  a  command 
of  Illinois  regiments  which  is  entirely  satisfactory  to 
me."  He  then  said:  "That  shows  the  d — d  nonsense 
of  the  whole  thing  ;  if  you  thought  your  own  family  and 
friends  were  in  danger,  you  would  be  willing  to  com- 
mand troops  raised  to  protect  them."  I  reported  to 
Governor  Yates  by  letter,  and  returned  to  my  command 
which  was  in  Tennessee. 

When  I  reached  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  on  my  re- 
turn, I  heard  a  complaint  from  the  closet  of  the  car, 
when  upon  entering  it,  I  found  a  man  named  Moore,  who 
had  lost  a  leg  at  the  battle  of  "The  Seven  Pines,"  in 
Virginia.  The  bandage  of  his  wounded  limb  had  slipped 
and  caused  great  pain.  He  had  been  discharged  from 
the  hospital  in  Philadelphia,  and  had  belonged  to  the 
"Buck-tails,"  a  Pennsylvania  regiment  in  the  civil  war. 
I  took  him  under  my  care  until  we  reached  Clay  City, 


154  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Illinois,  where  I  delivered  him  to  his  sister,  Mrs.  Mc- 
Gauley ;  then  went  on  until  I  met  the  train  going  east, 
and  passing  through  Louisville,  Kentucky,  went  south 
where  I  rejoined  my  division. 

I  soon  afterward  moved  Gross'  brigade  to  Cripple 
Creek,  and  Hazen's  to  Readyville.  We  remained  in  camp 
until  about  May  21st,  and  as  I  was  "to  the  manor  born," 
I  improved  my  time  by  an  occasional  reconnoissance 
under  orders  from  headquarters,  and  by  rides  around 
the  country,  where  I  met  some  persons  who  had  once 
lived  in  Illinois,  and  the  relatives  of  many  who  had  re- 
moved to  and  still  resided  in  this  state. 

I  met  with  but  one  adventure  while  visiting  around 
the  country  that  is  worthy  of  narration.  On  Saturday, 
May  15th,  I  made  a  more  than  usually  extended  trip, 
visiting  acquaintances  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  camp, 
and  after  spending  an  hour  with  one  family  who  liber- 
ally supplied  my  escort  of  about  twenty  men,  as  well  as 
myself,  with  the  homely  food  left  them,  in  exchange  for 
tobacco  and  other  things  that  were  equally  agreeable  to 
them,  I  rode  forward,  perhaps  a  mile,  and  reached  one 
of  those  magnificent  springs  which  are  to  be  found  amid 
the  "knobs"  of  Middle  Tennessee.  We  adopted  the 
usual  precautions  to  prevent  a  surprise,  and  while  the 
men  watered  and  rested  their  horses,  I  went  to  a  house 
a  hundred  or  two  feet  distant,  where  I  found  a  lady  of 
some  fifty  years  of  age,  who  told  me  that  she  was  a 
widow,  and  that  two  of  her  sons  were  members  of  a 
force  which  we  knew  was  in  the  neighborhood,  called 
the  "3d  Georgia  Cavalry."  She  was  a  most  agreeable 
woman,  and  after  a  half  hour's  conversation,  when  I 
was  in  the  act  of  leaving,  she  followed  me  to  the  door, 
where  she  saw  the  men,  who  were  by  that  time  mounted 
and  waiting  for  me.  She  invited  me  very  urgently  and 
kindly  to  return  the  next  morning  and  breakfast  with 
her.  The  house  was  only  some  three  miles  from 
our  camp,  and  the  promise  of  a  good  breakfast  was  so 
nattering  I  accepted  and  returned  to  camp.  My  in  vita- 


BATTLE  OF  CRIPPLE  CREEK.  155 

tion  was  repeated  to  several  officers  who  called  upon  me 
during  the  evening,  and  we  arranged  to  start  the  next 
morning  after  inspection  ;  and,  without  being  influenced 
in  the  slightest  degree  by  suspicion  or  distrust  of  the 
widow's  intentions,  I  ordered  part  of  my  escort,  Com- 
pany C,  7th  Illinois  Cavalry,  of  twenty-five  men,  and 
two  companies  of  Tennessee  cavalry,  about  sixty  men, 
on  duty  with  me,  to  report  the  next  morning  for  the 
trip ;  and  at  an  early  hour,  with  perhaps  half  a  dozen 
officers,  mostly  young  men,  who  joined  me  for  the  pleas- 
ure of  it,  we  left  the  camp  for  our  visit.  We  pushed 
forward  at  a  good  pace,  and  my  advance  guard  reached 
the  spring  before  me.  Videttes  were  posted  on  promi- 
nent points,  and,  leaving  my  horse,  I  went  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  house,  accompanied  by  a  single  orderly.  I 
approached  the  house  from  the  west,  and  the  door  at 
which  I  expected  to  enter  was  on  the  south.  As  I 
reached  the  gate  opening  into  the  yard,  near  the  northwest 
corner  of  the  house,  my  attention  was  attracted  by  the 
conduct  of  a  negro  man,  who  was  just  north  of  the  house 
grinning,  turning  up  the  whites  of  his  eyes  and  gesticu- 
lating with  his  arms  in  a  most  surprising  manner.  Sus- 
pecting something  from  his  conduct,  I  met  him  and 
asked  :  "What  is  the  matter?"  He  answered,  speaking 
in  a  low  tone  :  "Dey's  been  here  arter  you."  "Who?" 
I  said.  "De  Rebs,"  he  replied.  I  then  asked  him  : 
"How  many?"  He  said  :  "Just  about  as  many  as  you 
is."  I  then  sent  word  to  the  officer  in  command  to 
mount,  and  entered  the  house,  and,  without  referring  to 
what  I  had  heard,  spoke  to  the  lady  politely,  excused 
myself,  returned  to  my  escort  and  started  south,  on  the 
road  the  Rebels  had  gone,  with  the  hope  of  overtaking 
them.  We  rode  half  a  mile,  and  met  a  woman  on  horse- 
back who  was  an  acquaintance  of  some  of  my  men,  and 
she  told  us  that  the  enemy  had  taken  a  road  in  a  south- 
westerly direction,  and  led  to  the  turnpike  from  Mur- 
freesboro  to  Bradyville,  some  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
distant,  and  at  the  western  base  of  one  of  the  knobs  over 


156  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

which  the  pike  passed  towards  Bradysville.  We  at  once 
took  a  road  which  leads  in  a  southeasterly  direction,  and 
reached  the  "pike"  at  the  eastern  base  of  the  knob.  We 
discovered  the  Rebel  cavalry,  in  numbers  perhaps  about 
equal  to  ours,  mounted  in  columns  of  fours  and  in  a  lane 
too  narrow  to  admit  of  deployment.  The  sight  startled 
me  for  a  moment,  but  it  occurred  to  me  in  a  flash,  that  a 
brigadier-general  in  Virginia  had,  while  on  a  trip  some- 
thing like  my  own,  been  captured,  with  two  or  three 
horses,  and  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  said,  when  speaking 
of  the  affair  :  "I  can  make  another  brigadier,  but  I  hate 
to  lose  the  horses  !"  Recollecting  this,  and  aware  that 
there  was  but  one  way  to  avoid  the  laugh  of  the  whole 
army,  I  shouted,  "Charge  !"  and  we  went  up  the  hill  on 
a  gallop,  charging  upon  the  head  of  their  column,  and 
the  whole  Rebel  column  fired  as  we  were  riding  upon 
them  ;  but,  as  we  were  in  fours  also,  the  volley  did  but 
little  harm,  only  wounding  three  or  four  men,  Sergeant 
Monk,  who  was  just  at  my  left,  being  one  of  them. 
They  had  no  time  to  reload  before  we  were  upon  them — 
the  mere  weight  of  our  horses  overturned  horses  and 
riders  as  we  struck  them  and  threw  them  into  confusion. 
My  own  horse  struck  one  of  them  broadside,  and  horse 
and  rider  fell,  and  my  horse  recovered  with  difficulty. 
They  broke,  and  we  overtook  and  captured  some  of  them 
in  the  lane  ;  but,  when  they  passed  out  of  the  lane,  they 
scattered  in  the  woods.  We  captured  two  officers  and 
sixteen  men  and  a  number  of  horses,  and  sent  them  to 
headquarters.  The  officers,  Captains  Edwards  and  Wil- 
lis, were,  of  course,  greatly  mortified,  and  had  no  money. 
I  handed  them  twenty  dollars,  to  be  repaid  to  any  needy 
Union  soldier  they  might  meet,  but  I  have  never  heard 
how  they  discharged  their  undertaking. 

The  fate  of  one  poor  Rebel  on  that  day  was  most  sin- 
gular, as  well  as  unfortunate  ;  being  closely  pursued  by 
one  of  my  escort,  who  frequently  called  upon  him  to 
halt,  he  received  a  thrust  by  a  saber  which  entered  his 
lungs.  Upon  examination  by  Dr.  Menzies,  who  was 


BATTLE  OF  CRIPPLE  CREEK.  157 

with  us,  it  appeared  that  the  air  passed  from  the  wounded 
lung,  and  did  not  escape  through  the  wound,  but  in  the 
skin.  It  penetrated  the  tissues  and  distended  them  in 
the  most  astonishing  manner.  I  had  him  taken  to  the 
house  of  the  widow,  told  her  she  was  responsible  for  his 
situation,  and  required  her  to  give  him  needed  atten- 
tion. He  lived  but  a  day  or  two,  and  died  from  suf- 
focation. 

One  evening,  while  at  Cripple  Creek,  I  was  strolling 
about  the  camp  and  heard,  in  the  officers'  tent  of  the 
110th  Illinois,  the  sound  of  some  old  familiar  hymns, 
such  as  I  had  heard  in  Illinois  many  years  before.  I 
stopped  to  listen,  and  when  the  singing  ceased,  a  voice 
was  lifted  in  prayer,  which  expressed  the  most  patriotic 
sentiments.  Having  asked  who  was  the  leader,  I  was 
told  it  was  George  W.  Lasater,  a  private  in  the  regiment. 
The  next  morning,  I  issued  an  order,  to  be  read  at  dress 
parade  in  the  evening,  relieving  Lasater  from  "fatigue 
and  guard  duty."  The  following  morning,  a  tall, 
bronzed  man  came  to  my  tent,  touched  his  hat  to  me, 
and  requested  that  the  order  be  rescinded.  I  told  him 
that  most  soldiers  were  willing  to  be  relieved  from  duty. 
He  replied  that  it  was  a  matter  of  conscience  with  him  ; 
he  had  enlisted  and  taken  the  oath  to  perform  his  duties. 
Subsequently,  he  was  chosen  by  the  men  to  take  their 
money  to  Illinois  and  distribute  it  among  their  families. 
I  then  told  him  that  I  would  recommend  to  Governor 
Yates  that  he  be  appointed  chaplain  of  the  regiment,  as 
he  had  been  performing  the  duties  of  that  position.  He 
said  he  was  a  mere  local  preacher,  and  was  not  eligible 
to  the  office.  I  told  him  that  being  a  Methodist,  they 
would  qualify  him,  as  they  would  never  allow  an  in- 
formality of  that  sort  to  interfere  with  his  acceptance  of 
an  office. 

The  sequel  proved  I  was  correct,  for  Bishop  Ames 
took  him  to  Delaware,  where  the  general  conference  was 
in  session,  and  sent  him  back  with  his  commission. 
After  the  war,  I  met  him  at  Marion,  Williamson  county, 


158  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

and  complimented  him  upon  his  patriotism,  and  his  wife 
told  me  with  tears  in  her  eyes  that  it  was  less  dangerous 
for  him  to  have  gone  into  the  army  than  to  have  remained 
at  home,  because  of  the  divided  sentiments  of  his  neigh- 
bors. The  next  and  last  time  we  met,  he  was  chaplain 
of  a  Garfield  Club.  I  went  to  his  pleasant  home,  and 
he  told  me  the  land  was  nominally  his,  but  that  I  hav- 
ing suggested  his  chaplaincy,  it  belonged  to  me.  I  con- 
sidered that  my  suggestion  had  borne  excellent  fruit  in 
the  promotion  of  the  interests  of  a  good  man. 

The  army  remained  in  and  around  Murfreesboro  until 
June  24th,  and  though  my  advanced  position  and  my 
rare  visits  to  the  headquarters  separated  me  from  the 
bulk  of  the  army,  and  kept  me  in  comparative  ignorance 
of  the  situation  and  plans  of  General  Rosecrans,  still  I 
discovered  that  the  political  situation  in  the  North  and 
intrigues  at  Washington  had  their  influence  upon  the 
operations  of  the  army. 

I  knew  from  information  that  I  thought  reliable : 
that  there  was  a  desire  among  the  more  radical  leaders 
to  find  some  candidate  for  the  presidency  to  supersede 
Mr.  Lincoln,  and  that  their  attention  was  directed 
towards  Rosecrans,  who  was  then  rated  very  high  as  a  mili- 
tary man.  My  conversation  at  headquarters  upon  such 
subjects  was  chiefly  with  General  Garfield,  whose  views 
I  never  attempted  to  penetrate,  but  I  suspected  him  of 
being  in  the  confidence  of  Governor  Chase  and  Senator 
Wade  and  others,  whom  I  supposed  were  opposed  to  Mr. 
Lincoln. 

Early  after,  I  discovered  that  discussions  of  the  char- 
acter I  have  indicated  were  frequent  in  the  army.  I 
expressed  my  own  views  so  distinctly  that  I  was  not 
taken  into  the  confidence  of  any  one  opposed  to  Mr.  Lin- 
coln. I  believed  then,  as  I  do  now,  that  the  professed 
eagerness  of  Chase  and  Wade  and  their  confreres  to  crush 
the  rebellion,  and  their  opposition  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  based 
upon  the  supposed  feeling  of  reluctance  to  the  adoption 
of  measures  of  severity  towards  the  Rebels,  were  merely 


BATTLE  OF  CRIPPLE  CREEK.  159 

the  result  of  their  eagerness  to  take  advantage  of  the  pop- 
ular feeling  in  the  North,  and  force  themselves  into  the 
lead.  Up  to  1861,  I  had  felt  for  Governor  Chase  the 
greatest  respect  and  admiration,  but  had  come  to  regard 
him  as  excessively  ambitious,  and  to  believe  that  this 
weakness  made  him  altogether  selfish  and  unsafe  as  a 
political  adviser  to  the  president  or  as  a  party  leader. 
In  1861,  in  the  peace  conference,  he  had  advocated  a 
national  convention  as  a  means  of  settling  the  impend- 
ing difficulties  between  the  North  and  South,  and  when 
asked  by  Colonel  Doniphan,  then  a  delegate  to  the  con- 
ference from  Missouri,  "Suppose  a  national  convention 
should  assemble  and  should  agree  to  divide  the  Union, 
what  then?"  and  he  answered,  "I  know  of  no  authority 
superior  to  a  national  convention,"  I  made  up  my  mind 
that  he  was  entirely  willing  to  be  president  of  the  North- 
ern republic.  He  righted  himself  as  chief  justice,  and 
in  this  place  proved  he  possessed  great  judicial  talent. 

The  long  delay  in  the  movements  of  the  army  had 
early  in  the  spring  excited  the  anxieties  of  the  people 
of  the  North,  and  when  the  fine  weather  of  the  latter 
part  of  April  and  early  May  came  on,  the  army  mani- 
fested some  impatience.  I  had  no  share  in  the  con- 
fidence of  General  Rosecrans,  and  was  therefore  sur- 
prised to  receive,  on  June  9,  1863,  a  circular  addressed 
to  the  corps  and  division  commanders  of  the  army,  the 
substance  of  which  will  appear  by  my  answer,  which 
was  as  follows : 

"HEADQUARTERS  2o  Div.,  21sT  ARMY  CORPS, 

"CAMP  CRIPPLE  CREEK,  June  9,  1863. 
"LIEUTENANT-COLONEL  C.  GODDARD,  Asst.  Adj.]Gen.,  Dep. 

of  Cumberland. 

"COLONEL — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  re- 
ceipt, at  12  M.  last  night,  of  the  confidential  note,  pro- 
pounding to  me  the  following  questions,  viz  : 

"1st.  From  the  fullest  information  in  your  possession, 
do  you  think  the  enemy  in  front  of  us  has  been  so  ma- 


160  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

terially  weakened  by  detachments  of  Johnston,  or  else- 
where, that  this  army  could  advance  on  him  at  this 
time,  with  strong,  reasonable  chances  of  fighting  a  great 
and  successful  battle? 

"2d.  Do  you  think  an  advance  of  our  army,  at  pres- 
ent, likely  to  prevent  additional  reenforcements  being 
sent  against  General  Grant  by  the  enemy  in  our  front? 

"3d.  Do  you  think  an  immediate  or  early  advance  of 
our  army  advisable? 

"I  must  be  allowed  to  state,  at  the  outset,  that  my 
information  of  the  present  strength,  position,  probable 
purposes,  and  late  movements  of  the  enemy  in  our 
front,  is  very  incomplete  and  unsatisfactory.  It  is  con- 
fined to  facts  gleaned  from  my  intercourse  with  the  peo- 
ple in  the  vicinity  of  this  place,  Ready ville,  Woodbury, 
Brady ville,  etc. ;  the  reports  of  citizens'  scouts,  whose 
excursions  are  limited  to  very  short  distances  in  the  sup- 
posed direction  of  the  enemy,  and  from  conversations 
with  prisoners  taken  by  my  command,  travelers,  refugees 
and  deserters  who  have  escaped  to  our  lines,  and  such 
other  sources  of  information  as  are  open  to  every  other 
officer  of  the  army. 

"My  opinion,  formed  from  these  scanty  materials,  can, 
I  am  aware,  have  very  little  value,  but  I  very  cheerfully 
proceed  to  express  them. 

"I  do  not  think  the  enemy  in  our  front  weakened  ma- 
terially by  detachments  to  Johnston ;  the  weight  of  the 
facts  in  my  possession  impresses  me  with  the  belief  that 
General  Bragg  has  sent  from  his  army  to  Mississippi  not 
far  from  15,000  men,  but  I  am  reliably  informed  that 
troops  have  been  withdrawn  from  garrisons,  convalescent 
camps,  etc.,  in  Northern  Alabama,  Georgia  and  perhaps 
elsewhere,  to  replace  them. 

"I  estimate  the  actual  deduction  to  be  made  from 
Bragg 's  strength,  on  account  of  troops  sent  to  Missis- 
sippi, in  numbers  at  10,000  men  ;  in  general  effectiveness, 
something  more.  Notwithstanding  this  impression  of 
the  strength  of  the  enemy,  which  assumed,  by  the  way, 


BATTLE  OF  CRIPPLE  CREEK.  161 

his  inferiority  to  us,  I  do  not  believe  this  army  can  ad- 
vance on  the  enemy  with  a  reasonable  chance  of  fight- 
ing a  great  and  successful  battle ;  I  do  not  believe  he 
will  fight  a  decisive  battle  under  such  circumstances. 
It  is  now  of  vital  consequence  to  the  enemy  that  Bragg 's 
army  should  be  kept  unbroken. 

"If  Vicksburg  falls  into  our  hands,  it  will  probably 
be  required  as  the  nucleus  of  all  further  operations  in 
the  West  and  South. 

"He  is  in  possession  of  one  or  more  fortified  places 
of  considerable  strength  on  his  present  line.  His  line 
of  retreat  is  over  a  rough,  almost  mountainous  country, 
traversed  only  by  narrow  roads,  easily  obstructed  or  de- 
fended ;  every  march  brings  him  nearer  to  reenforce- 
ments.  I  think  he  would  fall  back  slowly,  watching 
closely,  ready  to  take  advantage  of  the  accidents,  ob- 
structing our  advance,  and  attacking  our  lines  of  com- 
munication. 

"We  can  take  care  of  ourselves,  but  we  cannot  compel 
him  to  fight  a  battle  upon  equal  terms.  I  do  not  think 
an  advance  of  our  army  at  present  likely  to  prevent 
reenforcements  being  sent  against  Grant  by  the  enemy 
on  our  front.  This  opinion  is  based  upon  the  theory  that 
Bragg  has  already  contributed  all  the  forces  he  is  ex- 
pected to  furnish  to  the  Army  of  the  Mississippi. 

"The  foregoing  answer  to  the  second  question  must 
be  understood  with  reference  to  the  more  general  ex- 
pressions to  be  employed  hereafter  in  replying  to  the 
third  question  of  the  series. 

"I  have  already  referred  to  the  incomplete  character 
of  my  information  with  respect  to  the  present  condition 
of  the  enemy  in  our  front.  I  allude  to  it  again,  to 
apologize  for  withholding  a  categorical  answer  to  the 
question,  'Do  you  think  an  immediate  or  early  advance 
of  our  army,  without  more  complete  information  than 
I  possess,'  if  by  'any  advance'  is  meant  a  forward  move- 
ment of  the  army  with  its  trains,  etc 
11 


162  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"But  assuming,  what  is  hardly  admissible,  that  the 
general  commanding  is  as  ill  informed  as  myself,  I  do 
advise  that  it  be  used,  as  far  as  possible,  without  in- 
volving it  in  a  long  march  and  needlessly  extending  its 
lines  of  communication,  in  giving  employment  to  the 
forces  of  the  enemy  with  his  superior  numbers  of 
cavalry  in  our  neighborhood.  It  may  be  that  he 
meditates  further  aid  to  Johnston,  and  he  may  be  in- 
duced to  do  so  by  our  inactivity. 

"The  Army  of  the  Cumberland  has  probably  reached 
its  maximum  efficiency ;  what  it  will  gain  hereafter  in 
drill  and  discipline  by  a  longer  continuance  in  camp 
will  be  lost  by  the  growth  and  influence  of  habits  of 
idleness  and  self-indulgence  upon  officers  and  men. 

"With  great  deference  I  submit  that  the  enemy  may, 
without  risking  engagement  under  circumstances  dis- 
advantageous to  us,  be  compelled  to  develop  his  strength 
and  his  purpose.  The  reasons  which  will  induce  Bragg 
to  decline  a  decisive  engagement  with  our  army  under 
present  circumstances  ought  to  prevent  us  from  risking 
it.  If  Grant  fails  before  Vicksburg,  it  would  be  unfor- 
tunate if  this  army  is  then  found  entangled  in  the  inte- 
rior of  Tennessee. 

Very  respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  M.  PALMER,  Major-General," 

I  had  before  heard  that  the  secretary  of  war  was 
urging  an  advance  of  the  army,  and  was  not  surprised 
on  the  23d  of  June  to  receive  orders  to  move  in  the  gen- 
eral direction  of  Tullahoma,  where  Bragg  was  known  to 
be,  though  his  forces  were  at  different  points  along  his 
front,  in  observation.  Crufts'  and  Gross'  brigades  were 
with  me  at  Cripple  Creek,  and  Hazen's  at  Readyville. 
We  marched  on  the  24th,  about  nine  o'clock,  in  a  heavy 
rain,  and  in  the  afternoon  with  a  battalion,  110th  Illinois, 
consolidated,  and  my  escort,  7th  Illinois  Cavalry;  we 
encountered  a  small  Rebel  force,  and  drove  it  before  us 
nearly  a  mile.  We  went  into  camp  that  night ;  it  was 


BATTLE  OF  CRIPPLE  CREEK.  163 

still  raining  and  moved  next  morning  (still  raining) , 
and  after  a  short  march  reached  Gillie's  Hill,  a  minature 
mountain,  and  as  the  roads  were  horrible  and  the  rain 
continued,  did  not  succeed  in  getting  our  artillery  and 
baggage  up  until  about  noon  on  the  27th. 

I  was  at  a  place  called  "Hollow  Springs,"  on  the 
27th,  and  while  there  the  scouts  brought  in  as  prisoner 
a  well-known  preacher,  whose  name  I  need  not  give,  and 
of  whom  I  had  heard  it  reported  that  the  year  before 
at  one  of  his  meetings  had  prayed,  "0,  Lord!  give  us 
rain  enough  to  help  the  crops,  but  not  enough  to  raise 
the  river  for  the  Yankee  gunboats  to  come  up  to  rob  us 
of  our  property  and  scatter  our  wives  and  children." 

When  brought  to  me  he  handed  me  a  copy  of  his 
oath  of  fidelity  to  the  United  States,  but  while  I  was 
examining  it  the  officer  having  him  in  charge  took  from 
his  pocket  a  certificate  of  his  loyalty  to  the  Southern 
Confederacy  and  a  protection  in  due  form !  As  was 
sometimes  said  of  others,  "He  carried  his  papers  in 
both  pockets,  as  he  did  not  know  into  whose  hands  he 
might  fall." 

After  we  reached  the  top  of  Gillie's  hill,  we  pushed 
on  over  the  barrens,  in  which  were  spots  underlaid  with 
quicksands,  the  crusts  of  which  would  sometimes  break 
and  a  wagon  sink  to  the  hubs  in  a  moment. 

On  July  1st,  we  moved  out  over  horrible  roads  for  a 
few  miles,  and  under  an  expectation  of  an  engagement 
formed  line  of  battle,  but  the  enemy  retreated  ;  we  pur- 
sued them  to  Elk  river,  near  the  foot  of  the  Cumberland 
mountains,  found  the  river  full  and  rising,  then  fell 
back  on  the  Hillsboro  road,  a  short  distance,  and  went 
into  camp. 

We  left  Cripple  Creek  on  the  24th  of  June  with  light 
rations  for  twelve  days,  but  the  constant  rains  had 
spoiled  much  of  the  bread  and  other  supplies,  and  we 
were  now,  on  the  third  day  of  July,  substantially  out  of 
supplies,  and  the  men  were  suffering  from  hunger. 
Observing  their  situation,  I  sent  a  regiment  in  advance, 


164  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

under  charge  of  Captain  Howland,  quartermaster  of  the 
division,  with  instructions  to  select  a  spot  for  a  camp  and 
post  guards  so  that  I  could  march  the  men  inside  the 
guard  lines  before  stacking  arms. 

There  is  no  more  sagacious  animal  than  an  old 
soldier.  They  saw  the  regiment  I  had  selected  move 
off  to  the  front  and  divined  my  object  instantly,  and  by 
common  consent  determined  to  outwit  me. 

I  paid  no  attention  to  them  until  we  overtook  the 
regiment  that  was  to  form  the  camp,  and  observed,  as  I 
thought,  that  the  ranks  were  thin.  I  then  hurried  for- 
ward, and  had  guards  posted,  and  watched  the  regiments 
as  they  filed  into  the  lines,  and  am  quite  sure  that  a  full 
three-fourths  of  the  men  had  broken  ranks,  probably  in 
many  cases  by  collusion  with  officers  who  were  off 
foraging. 

Soon  I  heard  shots  in  many  directions,  and  within  an 
hour  men  commenced  coming  to  the  guard  lines  loaded 
with  the  product  of  the  raid.  I  had  determined  upon  a 
"divide"  with  them,  and  ordered  that  when  a  man 
reached  the  lines  he  should  be  marched  to  my  quarters 
with  his  plunder,  and  as  they  came  with  parts  of  cattle, 
hogs  and  sheep,  and  whatever  else  they  had,  it  was  piled 
up  until  there  was  more  than  a  ton  of  meat,  and  I  had 
a  large  number  of  hungry,  angry  men  watching  for  the 
result. 

The  conclusion  of  the  affair  was  both  ludicrous  and 
pathetic,  and  demonstrates  that  absolute  authority  can- 
not afford  to  be  laughed  at  or  indulge  in  the  luxury  of 
pity.  The  first  attack  upon  my  authority  was  made  by 
a  very  small  man  of  the  6th  Kentucky  Infantry.  He 
was  a  German,  and  was  brought  in  sweating  under  the 
half  of  a  hog.  At  my  order  he  threw  his  load  down  on 
the  pile,  and  I  said  to  him:  "Who  gave  you  leave  to 
break  ranks,  and  go  out  and  steal?"  "You  dit,"  he 
said.  I  replied  :  "You  lying  rascal,  I  never  authorized 
you  to  steal."  He  said:  "You  dit."  I  saw  the  men 
standing  around  were  enjoying  the  scene,  and  said : 


BATTLE  OF  CRIPPLE  CREEK.  165 

"When  did  I  authorize  you  to  steal?"  He  said:  "At 
Stone  River,  you  ride  up  and  you  say,  'Stand  up  to 
them,  6th  Kentucky,  and  you  may  steal  for  six  months  ?'  ' 
I  could  hear  the  crowd  of  men  behind  me  laughing,  but 
remembering  the  occasion,  I  told  him  to  stand  aside,  and 
his  evident  disappointment  added  to  the  mirth  of  the 
bystanders. 

The  men  were  being  steadily  brought  in,  and  finally 
the  guard  brought  forward  a  fine  looking  young  man  of 
the  41st  Ohio.  He  had  the  half  of  a  calf  he  had  found 
and  killed.  I  ordered  him  to  throw  it  down  on  the 
heap  and  he  did  so.  He  stood  very  respectfully  for  a 
few  minutes,  and  then  said  :  "General,  arn't  you  going 
to  let  me  have  my  meat?"  I  answered:  "No;  you 
break  ranks,  go  out  and  rob  the  people,  and  then  expect 
to  have  the  result  of  your  robbery!"  To  my  surprise, 
the  tears  ran  down  his  cheeks.  I  said:  "You  great 
overgrown  booby,  are  you  crying  about  a  thing  of  this 
kind?"  and  he  replied,  "General,  I  have  had  nothing  to 
eat  since  yesterday  morning ;  we  had  to  march  before 
the  orderly  distributed  the  rations."  I  sent  for  his 
orderly  sergeant,  who  confirmed  the  statement.  I  gave 
him  his  veal  and  a  cup  of  salt,  but  felt  that  my  authority 
was  subverted — I  had  been  laughed  out  of  the  hog, 
and  cried  out  of  the  calf.  I  summoned  the  brigade  com- 
missaries and  they  divided  the  supplies  to  the  satisfaction 
of  all  parties.  For  a  long  time  afterwards  I  could  oc- 
casionally hear  the  dialogue  between  the  little  Dutch- 
man and  myself  slyly  repeated. 


166  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Manchester — Governor  of  Tennessee — Union  refugees — Cross  the  Ten- 
nessee river — Lookout  mountain — Ringgold — Battle  of  Chicka- 
mauga — Colonel  Robinson — Return  from  Chickamauga — Russell's 
battery— Fatal  order. 

On  July  8th,  we  returned  to  Manchester  on  the  line  of 
railroad  from  Tullahoma  to  McMinnville,  where  we  re- 
mained for  some  three  weeks  refitting,  for  further  opera- 
tions. 

I  remember  nothing  more  pleasant  in  my  camp  ex- 
perience than  the  time  spent  at  Manchester.  I  found 
there  some  acquaintances  made  before  the  war,  and  met 
relatives  of  friends  residing  in  Macoupin,  Montgomery 
and  Bond  counties  in  Illinois.  The  young  men  were 
mostly  absent  in  either  the  Rebel  or  Union  armies,  while 
the  men  at  home  were  chiefly  for  the  Union.  They  were 
exceedingly  friendly,  and  visited  the  camp  in  large 
numbers. 

The  Confederate  army  had  so  exhausted  the  country 
that  my  hospitality  was  severely  taxed.  My  rations  of 
coffee  and  the  usual  army  trimmings  were  very  accept- 
able to  the  women,  and  the  commissary  whisky,  of  which 
the  supply  was  abundant,  was  enjoyed  by  the  men. 

We  talked  of  politics  and  of  Illinois,  of  which  they 
had  heard  something,  and  the  state  lost  nothing  by  my 
accounts  of  its  fertility  and  prosperity.  The  election  for 
governor  and  other  state  officers  of  Tennessee  was  near 
at  hand,  and  my  visitors  requested  me  to  remain  and  be 
a  candidate  for  governor  of  Tennessee.  In  fact,  a  dele- 
gation from  "Hubbard's  Cove,"  which  was  a  beautiful 
place  at  the  base  of  the  Cumberland  mountains,  followed 
me  a  day's  ride  to  tender  me  the  votes  of  Grundy  county 
if  I  would  stay  and  be  a  candidate  for  the  office.  I  was 


BATTLE  OF  CHICKAMAUGA.  167 

then  in  motion  for  the  Sequatchie  valley,  and  was  com- 
pelled to  decline  the  honor. 

On  August  5th,  I  moved  under  orders  for  Dunlap  in 
the  valley  on  the  Sequatchie  river.  We  made  a  short 
day's  march,  and  camped  for  the  night  at  a  place  called 
Villanow,  and  next  morning  a  guide  reported  to  me  to 
conduct  us  to  "Irving  College"  on  Collins  river. 

I  proposed  to  my  guide  to  take  my  escort  and  move 
across  the  mountains  by  way  of  Altamont,  as  being  more 
direct,  and  leave  my  division  to  move  up  by  the  turn- 
pike, but  he  declined  to  guide  me  over  that  route  for 
what  seemed  to  be  a  very  satisfactory  reason. 

When  I  made  the  suggestion,  he  answered,  "I  sup- 
pose you  know  the  mountain  is  full  of  guerrillas."  I 
said,  "Yes,  but  they  claim  to  be  Union  guerrillas,  don't 
they?"  He  answered  with  a  smile,  "Yes,  they  do  ;  but 
if  a  man  with  a  good  coat  on  his  back  tries  to  pass 
through  there,  they  wouldn't  care  for  its  color.  All 
they  would  hate  would  be  to  put  a  bullet  hole  through 
it  to  get  it  off  of  him."  I  did  n't  go  by  that  route. 

We  reached  Irving  College  in  the  afternoon,  and  found 
one  of  the  loveliest  spots  I  ever  saw.  It  is  but  a  short 
distance  from  the  Cumberland  mountains,  from  which 
it  is  separated  by  the  Collins  river. 

A  well-constructed  turnpike  leading  from  McMinns- 
ville  over  the  mountains  passes  through  the  valley. 
The  college  building  was  a  brick  school  room  of  no  great 
extent,  which  was  surrounded  by  wooden  dormitories. 
I  found  there  a  lady,  wife  of  the  president  of  the  insti- 
tution, who  had  some  years  before,  as  Miss  Harriet 
Whitaker,  been  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools  at  Carlin- 
ville,  Illinois.  She  invited  me  to  take  supper  with  her, 
which  I  did.  She  had  little,  but  it  was  well  prepared. 
Just  before  we  took  our  seats  at  the  table,  she  knelt 
down  in  front  of  a  fire-place,  raised  a  short  board  in  the 
floor,  reached  down  a  full  arm's  length  and  brought  her 
silver  spoons  into  view.  I  asked,  "why  she  had  placed 
them  there?"  She  answered  with  a  confused  smile,  "I 


168  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

heard  you  were  coming,  and  did  not  want  you  to  be 
tempted." 

Next  morning,  we  resumed  our  march  and  ascended 
the  Cumberland  mountains.  We  had  passed  hills  be- 
fore, but  this  was  my  first  experience  in  mountain  opera- 
tions. The  roads  were  excellent,  and  by  two  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  artillery  and  baggage  had  reached  the  top 
of  the  mountain,  and  then  we  marched  for  ten  or  twelve 
miles  on  a  level  road  with  houses  and  farms  on  both 
sides  and  no  great  distance  apart. 

A  number  of  Union  refugees  were  with  us,  who  took 
advantage  of  our  march  to  return  home.  I  witnessed 
many  of  the  reunions  of  those  men  with  their  families, 
and  found  one  dying  man,  who  had  been  shot  by  the 
guerrillas,  who  was  falling  back  before  us. 

I  was  informed,  on  reliable  authority,  that  in  the 
bloody  feuds  between  the  Union  men  and  the  Rebels, 
that  at  least  thirty  men  had  been  killed  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  point  where  we  reached  the  top  of  the  Cum- 
berland mountains. 

We  spent  one  night  on  the  mountain,  and  next  day 
reached  Dunlap,  where  the  brigades  of  the  division  re- 
mained until  the  30th  of  August.  I  marched  with  Ha- 
zen's  brigade  over  Waldon's  ridge,  which  equals  the 
Cumberland  mountain  in  height  and  width,  and  with 
the  brigade  took  possession  at  Poe'  tavern,  in  the  valley 
of  the  Tennessee  river,  some  fifteen  miles  from  Chatta- 
nooga. I  remained  with  the  brigade  a  day  or  two,  re- 
connoitered  the  Tennessee  river,  and  found  the  Rebels  in 
full  force  on  the  east  bank  at  the  ferries,  and  then  re- 
turned to  Dunlap.  The  Sequatchie  valley  lies  between 
the  Cumberland  mountains  and  Waldron's  ridge,  and  at 
Dunlap  does  not  exceed  three  miles  in  width.  It  is  very 
fertile,  and  the  Sequatchie,  a  small  stream,  traverses  its 
whole  length. 

The  able-bodied  men  of  the  valley  were  nearly  all  in 
one  or  the  other  of  the  armies  ;  the  men  who  remained 
at  home,  with  a  few  notable  exceptions,  were  loyal.  The 


BATTLE  OF  CHICK  AM  AUGA.  169 

best  evidence  of  the  loyalty  of  the  men  of  the  valley  was 
found  in  the  language  and  conduct  of  the  women. 

On  the  31st  of  August,  we  commenced  marching  down 
the  Sequatchie  valley  and  camped  on  the  Little  Sequatchie . 
Cruft  moved  to  Shellmound  and  crossed  the  Tennessee 
river  on  a  ferryboat  with  Gross's  brigade.  I  moved  to  the 
mouth  of  Battle  creek  ;  rafts  were  constructed  from  the 
cedar  logs  of  houses  there,  and  with  the  mules  swim- 
ming, and  a  rope  stretched  across  the  river,  the  brigade, 
its  artillery  and  baggage,  was  crossed  over,  and  we 
marched  to  Shellmound  and  joined  Cruft,  and  then 
pushed  forward  rapidly,  with  the  hope  of  saving  the 
railroad  bridge  over  Running  Water  creek.  "We  were 
too  late,  the  Rebels  had  fired  the  bridge,  and  it  was  fall- 
ing when  we  reached.  We  then  moved  up  Running 
Water  creek  to  Coles'  academy,  and  then  crossed  into 
the  Lookout  valley,  where,  employing  ourselves  in  re- 
connoissances  in  the  direction  of  the  enemy,  we  remained 
until  the  8th  of  September  ;  and,  as  Bragg  vacated  Chat- 
tanooga on  the  8th,  we  moved  forward  in  order  to  occupy 
that  place,  and  then  really  entered  upon  the  campaign 
which  included  the  operations  that  led  to  and  followed 
the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  and  the  ultimate  total  defeat 
of  the  Rebel  army  at  Missionary  ridge. 

The  history  of  this  memorable  campaign  has  been 
written  by  so  many,  with  all  necessary  fullness,  and  with 
such  approximate  accuracy,  that  I  will  attempt  no  more 
than  to  give  an  account  of  my  own  connection  with  the 
campaign,  and  make  only  such  reference  to  the  acts  of 
others  as  is  necessary  in  order  to  make  myself  under- 
stood. There  are,  too,  minor  matters  of  history  that 
may  be  profitably  stated,  not  on  account  of  their  own 
value,  but  of  the  relation  they  have  to  more  important 
events. 

I  will  mention  some  of  these  matters,  partly  because 
they  are  personal  to  myself,  and  partly  because  they 
may  possess  of  themselves  some,  though  a  subordinate t 
interest. 


170  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Now,  to  return  to  my  story.  After  the  21st  Corps, 
with  the  exception  of  Hazen's  brigade,  which  was  still 
above  Chattanooga,  reached  Lookout  'valley,  for  the 
double  purpose  of  observing  Chattanooga  and  covering 
the  rear  and  left  flank  of  the  14th  and  the  20th  Corps, 
which  had  commenced  their  march  across  the  mountain 
ranges  in  the  direction  of  Rome,  Georgia,  it  was  well  un- 
derstood that  the  campaign  was  near  a  crisis.  My  own 
command  was  occupied  in  a  reconnoissaiice  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Lookout  mountain,  which  elevation,  two  or  three 
thousand  feet  above  the  valley  we  occupied,  was  in  pos- 
session of  the  enemy. 

On  the  9th  of  September,  information  reached  me 
from  several  sources  that  Bragg  had  evactuated  Chatta- 
nooga, and  I  received  orders  to  move — to  occupy  the 
city.  My  information  led  me  to  believe  that  Bragg  did 
not  intend  to  abandon  Chattanooga.  I  guessed  that  he 
had  fallen  back  for  the  concentration  of  his  forces,  or 
that  he  would  throw  his  whole  force  upon  the  21st  Corps 
as  soon  as  it  cleared  the  point  of  Lookout  mountain  and 
was  fairly  committed  to  the  Chattanooga  valley. 

As  will  be  seen,  by  reference  to  the  maps,  the  point 
of  Lookout  mountain,  a  short  distance  below  the  town 
of  Chattanooga,  approaches  the  Tennessee  river  so  closely 
as  to  admit  of  a  very  narrow  passage  between  the  river 
and  the  mountain ;  a  road  then  led  across  the  Chatta- 
nooga creek,  close  to  the  bank  of  the  river,  in  a  north- 
east direction,  to  the  town,  while  another  road  leads 
from  the  same  point  southeasterly,  for  a  distance  of 
probably  two  miles,  to  the  village  of  Rossville,  where  it 
unites  with  a  road  leading  from  Chattanooga,  via  the 
Gap  in  Mission  ridge,  to  Ringgold.  Also,  after  passing 
the  Gap,  another  road  branches,  and  leads  to  Lee  and 
Gordon's  mills,  and  there  crosses  the  west  branch  of  the 
Chickamauga,  and  from  thence  to  Lafayette,  Georgia. 

Being  aware  of  the  position  of  Rossville,  with  respect 
to  the  point  of  Lookout  mountain  and  Chattanooga,  as 
well  as  to  the  Gap  and  the  roads  before  mentioned,  I 


THE  BATTLE  OF  CHICKAMAUGA.  171 

obtained  permission  from  General  Crittenden  to  march 
directly  to  Rossville,  and  he  ordered  Van  Cleve's  di- 
vision to  march  to  the  same  point. 

We  were  then  about  12,000  strong  in  the  Chattanooga 
valley,  while  Bragg' s  army,  of  more  than  double  our 
numbers,  was  within  twenty  miles  of  us,  in  a  country 
with  which  he  was  familiar,  and  with  good  roads  run- 
ning from  his  front  to  ours,  and  at  that  time  the  re- 
mainder of  our  army  was  committed  to  a  march  across  the 
mountains  beyond  supporting  distance.  During  the 
night  of  September  9th,  I  received  from  the  corps  head- 
quarters an  extract  from  an  order  from  army  head- 
quarters to  pursue  the  enemy  in  the  direction  of  Ring- 
gold,  Georgia,  and  bring  him  into  battle.  The  order 
seemed  to  be  remarkable,  for  I  knew  from  information 
collected  in  the  neighborhood  that  on  that  day  a  Rebel 
force  was  at  Lee  and  Gordon's  mills,  and  that  Bragg  him- 
self was  at  Lafayette. 

On  the  morning  of  the  10th,  and  after  clearing  the 
Gap  to  my  front  of  a  slight  Rebel  force,  I  moved  on, 
crossed  the  Chickamauga,  and  reached  the  hill  which 
overlooked  Pea  Vine  creek  valley,  and  witnessed  the 
most  mortifying  and  humiliating  scene  that  befell  me 
during  my  military  life. 

I  had  ridden,  with  my  advance  regiment,  the  1st 
Kentucky  Infantry,  a  regiment  which  took  part  in  the 
campaign  in  West  Virginia  early  in  the  war,  and  re- 
moved to  the  West.  It  had  participated  in  the  battle 
of  Pittsburg  Landing,  or  Shiloh,  and  acquitted  itself 
with  great  credit.  When  we  reached  the  point  I  have 
mentioned,  I  could  command  a  view  of  the  valley  for  a 
great  distance. 

The  road  from  Cleveland  to  Lafayette  crossed  the  east 
branch  of  the  Chickamauga  at  Greyville  and  ran  south  on 
the  east  side  of  Pea  Vine  creek,  along  the  valley  for  miles. 
The  road  was  concealed  from  my  observation  by  the  small 
timber  and  brush  along  the  creek,  but  from  my  position 
on  the  hill  I  could,  by  noticing  the  dust,  determine  that 


172  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

cavalry  and  infantry  were  passing  across  my  line  of 
march  going  south.  It  was  easy  to  determine  that  the 
infantry  force  was  small,  but  not  so  easy  to  determine 
the  strength  of  the  cavalry.  To  satisfy  myself,  I  or- 
dered Major  Norton,  of  the  42d  Illinois,  my  senior  aid, 
to  ride  with  my  escort,  some  forty  men,  to  the  front,  to 
ascertain  the  facts.  In  the  meantime,  the  troops  had 
filed  past  me,  and  the  head  of  the  column  had  reached 
the  skirt  of  timber  near  the  creek.  I  saw  Norton  come 
at  a  gallop,  pursued  by  a  superior  force  of  the  enemy ; 
the  troops  in  front  were  thrown  into  confusion.  I  rode 
forward,  at  full  speed,  and  before  I  could  reach  the 
spot  the  Rebels,  under  the  cloud  of  dust,  captured  two 
officers  and  fifty-six  enlisted  men,  all  from  a  veteran 
regiment.  I  followed  with  my  escort,  but  found  myself 
soon  in  the  presence  of  a  largely  superior  force. 

I  have  never  suffered  from  disease  or  other  cause  the 
agony  produced  by  this  event.  Not  a  gun  was  fired, 
but  the  Rebels,  at  full  speed,  rode  up,  and  captured  all 
these  men  with  loaded  muskets  in  their  hands. 

The  remainder  of  this  regiment  revenged  the  insult 
inflicted  upon  them  in  the  battles  of  the  19th  and  20th, 
which  were  fought  but  a  few  miles  from  the  scene  of 
their  humiliaton,  and  I  confess  that  I  felt  much  as  they 
did,  and  watched  them  with  a  glow  of  feeling,  which 
is  partially  aroused  now  within  me  by  this  brief  recital 
of  their  obstinate  gallantry.  The  next  morning,  Sep- 
tember llth,  we  resumed  our  march  in  the  direction  of 
Ringgold,  and  then  drove  the  Rebel  forces  through  one 
pass  in  the  mountains,  and  destroyed  the  railroad  for  a 
few  miles. 

During  the  evening,  General  Crittenden  overtook  us, 
and  informed  me  that  Rosecrans  had  discovered  the  real 
meaning  of  Bragg's  movement,  and  had  gone  to  join 
Generals  Thomas  and  McCook,  who,  with  the  14th  and 
20th  Corps  were  still  in  the  mountains ;  Crittenden 's 
purpose,  upon  this  discovery,  was  to  move  in  the  direc- 
tion from  which  the  other  corps  were  expected,  in  order 


BATTLE  OF  CH1CKAMAUGA.  173 

to  unite  the  whole  army  before  Bragg  should  advance 
upon  us  in  force.  On  the  12th  I  moved  with  only  my 
artillery  and  ambulances,  until  I  reached  Peavine' valley, 
in  order  to  cover  our  transportation,  which  Van  Cleve 
with  his  division  conducted  by  the  direct  road  to  Lee 
and  Gordon's  mill,  where  Wood,  with  two  of  his 
brigades,  was  already  posted. 

Upon  reaching  the  road  leading  up  Peavine  creek, 
citizens  informed  me  that  a  heavy  cavalry  force  had,  dur- 
ing the  night,  passed  in  the  direction  of  Lafayette  ;  the 
bridge  was  cut  and  fords  blockaded. 

I  reached  a  point  at  the  junction  of  the  Lee  and 
Gordon  and  the  Lafayette  roads,  and  waited  there  for 
some  time,  to  give  Van  Cleve  time  to  pass  ;  I  then  moved 
up  the  creek  and  attacked  the  enemy,  who  were  in  com- 
paratively light  force.  I  advanced  still  further  up  the 
valley,  driving  them  before  me  for  some  distance,  until 
the  volume  of  fire  satisfied  me  that  we  were  in  the 
presence  of  a  heavy,  probably  superior  force  of  infantry. 

As  the  concentration  of  the  army  and  not  a  partial 
battle  was  the  object,  I  withdrew  to  Lee  and  Gordon's, 
and  then  crossed  to  the  west  side  of  the  Chickamauga, 
and  camped  near  the  point,  to  which  we  returned  a  few 
days  afterwards,  to  engage  in  the  battle  of  Chicka- 
mauga. 

Sunday,  September  13th,  was  a  busy  day,  for  it  was 
obvious  that  General  Bragg  was  moving  upon  us  in 
force  and  that  a  battle  was  impending.  Reconnoissances 
were  made  to  our  front,  and  in  the  direction  of  Peavine 
valley  to  the  east.  On  the  14th,  I  marched  across  Mis- 
sionary Ridge  into  Chattanooga  valley ;  on  the  16th  I 
returned,  moved  up  the  Chickamauga  valley,  passing 
Crawfish  Springs,  for  several  miles  to  Gowans,  and 
watched  the  fords  and  bridges  ;  crossed  the  river  on  the 
17th,  to  feel  for  the  enemy ;  encountered  a  party  and 
drove  them  back  over  the  hill. 

On  the  18th,  the  enemy  more  bold,  attacked  one  of  my 
outposts,  but  were  repulsed  with  some  loss  to  them,  and 


174  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  heads  of  Thomas's  column  beginning  to  arrive,  I  gave 
place  for  some  of  this  force,  and  moved  down  the  river 
towards  Crawfish  Springs. 

In  the  afternoon,  with  one  of  my  brigades,  I  relieved 
Barnes'  brigade,  who  were  defending  a  ford  against  an  ob- 
stinate attempt  of  the  enemy  to  cross.  I  then  rode  to  the 
headquarters  at  Crawfish  Springs,  and  learned  there  that 
Rebel  troops  from  Virginia  were  hourly  expected  to  ar- 
rive at  Blnggold,  and  found  that  Bragg  was  moving 
north,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  to  unite  with  the 
force  from  Virginia,  and  then  to  interpose  his  whole 
army  between  us  and  Chattanooga. 

It  was  now  a  race  for  a  battlefield,  and  it  remains  to 
be  seen  by  what  slight  circumstances  the  result  of  the 
race,  as  well  as  of  the  subsequent  battle,  was  determined. 

It  was  no  doubt  the  intention  of  Rosecrans  that  Crit- 
tenden's  corps  should  take  position  to  defend  the  cross- 
ing at  Lee  and  Gordon's  mills,  and  that  the  14th  and  20th 
Corps  should  proceed,  by  a  road  leading  from  Crawfish 
Springs,  along  the  base  of  Missionary  Ridge,  and  reach 
the  Chattanooga  road  to  the  north  of  Lee  and  Gordon's 
mills,  and  by  a  further  movement  to  the  left,  confront 
the  enemy,  and  fight  a  battle  for  the  defense  of  Chatta- 
nooga ;  but  an  incident  brought  the  two  armies  into  col- 
lision earlier  than  either  intended.  During  the  night  of 
the  18th,  I  attempted  to  reach  Lee  and  Gordon's  mills, 
but  the  narrow  pass  at  Crawfish  Springs  was  so  crowded 
with  artillery  and  marching  columns  that  I  spent  the 
whole  night  on  horseback,  and  only  reached  my  position 
about  sunrise  on  the  morning  of  the  19th.  At  that  time 
Thomas  had  gained  a  considerable  distance  on  our  left, 
in  the  direction  of  Chattanooga,  and  early  in  the  fore- 
noon Gross's  brigade  was  sent  north  on  the  Chattanooga 
road  to  reconnoiter  and  learn  something  of  the  positions 
and  movements  of  the  other  portions  of  the  army. 

At  half-past  nine  o'clock  I  received  a  note  from  Gen- 
eral Thomas,  the  important  effect  of  which  will  appear 
from  an  article  clipped  from  the  Southern  Confederacy, 


BATTLE  OF  CHICK  AMAUGA.  175 

a  newspaper  published  in  Atlanta,  Georgia,  October  3d, 
which  I  copy  :  "It  is  said  that  General  Bragg's  plan  of 
attack  was  designed  to  be  the  same  as  that  of  General 
Lee  on  Chickahominy,  viz.,  a  movement  down  the  left 
bank  of  the  Chickamauga,  by  a  column  which  was  to 
take  the  enemy  in  flank,  and  drive  them  down  the 
river  to  the  next  ford  or  crossing  below,  when  a  second 
column  was  to  cross  over  and  unite  with  the  first,  in 
pushing  the  enemy  still  further  down  the  river,  until 
all  the  bridges  and  fords  had  been  uncovered,  and  our 
entire  army  passed  over. 

"This  plan  was  frustrated,  according  to  report,  by  a 
counter  movement,  which  is  explained  in  the  following 
order  of  the  Federal  General  Thomas.  This  order  was 
found  upon  the  person  of  Adjutant-General  Muhleman, 
of  General  Palmer's  staff,  who  subsequently  fell  into 
our  hands  : 

•HEADQUARTERS  MTH  ARMY  CORPS, 
'NEAR  MCDANIEL'S  HOUSE,  October  19,  1863,  9,  A.  M. 
'MAJOR-GENERAL  PALMER  —  The  Rebels  are  reported 
in  quite  a  heavy  force  between  you  and  Alexander's 
mill.     If  you  advance  as  soon  as  possible  on  them  in 
front,  while  I  attack  them  in  flank,  I  think  we  can  use 
them  up.         Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
GEO.  H.  THOMAS,  Maj.-Gen., 


"This  was  Saturday  morning  ;  the  counter  attack  upon 
the  front  and  flank  of  our  flanking  column  was  made 
with  vigor  soon  after  it  crossed  the  river,  and  in  accord- 
ance with  the  plan  suggested  by  General  Thomas,  and 
if  not  entirely  successful,  it  was  sufficiently  so  to  disar- 
range our  plans  and  delay  our  movements." 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  plan  of  Bragg's  at- 
tack was  as  stated  in  the  newspaper  article,  but  his  ob- 
ject is  not  correctly  indicated.  The  purpose  for  which 
the  corps  referred  to  was  crossed  over  the  Chickamauga 
was  that  it  should  catch  our  advance  in  movement,  and 
while  it  was  engaged  the  troops  of  his  center  and  left 


176  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

should  move  on  the  east  bank  and  cross  over  and  turn 
our  left.  Longstreet's  Virginia  troops  were  to  have 
moved  directly  on  Chattanooga,  by  way  of  one  of  the 
roads  leading  from  Ringgold. 

Rosecrans  fully  understood  the  purpose  of  Bragg.  As 
I  was  moving  north  along  the  Chattanooga  road  he  sug- 
gested to  me  to  move  east  in  eschelon  by  brigades,  my 
right  refused.  I  did  so,  and  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  my  whole  command  struck  the  enemy  at  the  same 
moment,  and  Thomas  with  Brannon  struck  them  nearly 
the  same  time.  The  fight  was  extremely  fierce  from 
the  beginning,  but  we  drove  them  back  for  half  a  mile  ; 
and  as  the  enemy  had  disappeared  from  my  front,  I 
ordered  Hazen,  whose  ammunition  was  exhausted,  to  go 
to  the  rear  and  fill  his  boxes.  In  the  meantime  Bragg, 
defeated  in  his  plan,  as  before  described,  pushed  his 
center  and  left  across  the  creek  to  my  right  and  attacked 
Van  Cleve,  who  was  forced  to  retire. 

Hearing  the  fire  receding  on  our  right,  I  rode  in  the 
direction  of  the  road,  and  feeling  the  necessity  of  prompt 
action  I  rode  up  to  Colonel  Milton  S.  Robinson  of  the 
75th  Indiana,  who  belonged  to  Reynolds'  division,  and 
who  had  served  under  my  command  on  the  Mississippi, 
and  learning  from  him  that  his  regiment  had  never  been 
in  battle,  ordered  him  to  "form"  and  charge  the  enemy. 
He  obeyed,  saying  that  he  did  not  belong  to  my  com- 
mand, but  would  obey  my  orders.  He  ordered  a  charge, 
and  his  new  regiment,  some  eight  hundred  strong,  led 
by  Robinson  and  myself,  rushed  upon  the  enemy  with 
shouts  that  made  the  woods  ring,  when  they  yielded,  and 
were  thrown  back  a  quarter  of  a  mile  or  more.  The  men 
we  had  driven  before  us  were  good  soldiers,  who  were  for 
the  moment  surprised  by  the  rush  of  this  large  regiment. 
I  told  Robinson  that  they  would  return  and  that  his 
raw  troops  could  not  withstand  them,  but  advised  him 
to  keep  up  appearances  as  long  as  he  could,  and  rode 
to  the  left  to  reach  my  own  two  brigades,  which  were  by 
this  time  at  a  distance  of  perhaps  a  quarter  of  a  mile. 


BATTLE  OF  CHICKAMAUGA.  177 

As  I  rode  forward  in  a  gallop  I  looked  down  a  hollow  to 
my  right  front  and  saw  a  Rebel  line  advancing  up  a  hill 
in  the  direction  of  Graft's  brigade,  which  I  could  see, 
and  at  the  same  time  observed  that  they  had  not  noticed 
the  approach  of  the  enemy.  I  increased  my  speed  and 
shouted  as  I  reached  the  right  of  the  line  to  call  atten- 
tion to  the  coming  Rebels,  and  they  reached  the  plateau 
a  moment  afterwards.  They  charged  us  at  once,  and 
were  received  with  a  volley  which  did  not  check  them. 
On  they  came,  and  then  followed  one  of  those  noisy 
scenes  that  some  times  occur  on  a  well-fought  battlefield. 
As  they  pressed  us  our  lines  were  pushed  back,  and 
there  seemed  imminent  danger  that  my  line  would 
break,  and  then  I  knew  demoralization  would  follow. 
The  Rebel  mounted  officers  were  in  front  of  their  lines 
encouraging  their  men  and  using  every  effort  to  prevent 
disorder. 

I  remember  that  I  noticed  one  Rebel  officer  some  dis- 
tance in  advance  of  his  command,  calling  them  to  come 
forward  and  firing  at  us.  I  drew  a  pistol  from  my 
holster  and  fired  at  him,  with  what  success  I  never  knew. 
We  were  pushed  back  until  I  saw  General  Turchin  to  my 
left  with  his  brigade.  He  ordered  a  charge,  and  as  he 
came  up,  my  men  rallied  and  joined  in  the  movement. 
In  an  instant  all  was  changed.  The  Rebels  had  by  this 
time  become  disordered,  and  they  were  unable  to  with- 
stand our  assault.  They  broke  and  we  pursued  them. 
We  captured  some  prisoners.  A  few  were  brought  to 
me.  I  ordered  that  their  guns  be  broken,  and  told  them 

to  "go  to  the  d 1 !"  They  pushed  to  the  rear,  glad  to 

escape  the  melee. 

As  soon  as  the  excitement  occasioned  by  this  lively 
affair  was  over,  I  heard  firing  to  my  right  rear,  by  which 
I  knew  the  enemy  were  pushing  our  troops  who  were  in 
that  direction.  I  rode  in  the  direction  of  our  fire,  pass- 
ing within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  right  of  the  Rebel  ad- 
vance— a  few  of  whom  saw  and  fired  at  me.  I  was  on 
12 


178  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  wing,  however,  and  passed  them ;  found  that  Rey- 
nolds of  Thomas's  corps  had  collected  a  few  pieces  of  ar- 
tillery, and  with  a  part  of  his  infantry  had  checked  the 
Rebel  advance  ;  and  after  proceeding  a  little  further,  I 
met  Colonel  Robinson,  whose  regiment  had  charged  the 
enemy  so  gallantly  an  hour  before.  He  had  about  fifty 
men  with  him,  and  told  me  most  mournfully  that  his 
entire  regiment,  with  the  exception  of  the  few  men  with 
him,  was  destroyed.  I  knew  from  the  composition  of 
his  regiment  that  the  majority  of  them,  all  new  men, 
had  taken  care  of  themselves,  and  I  tried  to  comfort 
him  with  that  assurance.  He,  however,  said  that  he 
knew  them  better  than  I  did,  and  that  they  were  all 
brave  men,  and  had  either  fallen  or  were  then  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  I  laughing  offered  to  bet  him  ten 
dollars  that  when  he  issued  rations  the  next  morning,  he 
would  not  miss  twenty-five  men.  He  looked  vexed  at 
my  offer.  I  rode  off;  but  when  we  met  again,  he  said  I 
was  "nearer  right  than  he  was." 

It  had  turned  out  as  I  told  him  it  would  after  we  had 
made  the  charge  with  his  regiment,  of  which  mention 
has  been  made.  The  Rebel  forces  that  we  had  driven 
before  us  were  good  soldiers,  and  when  they  got  over 
the  idea  that  they  were  in  the  presence  of  an  over- 
whelming force,  they  returned.  They  did  so,  and  Rob- 
inson's raw  men  acted  sensibly  and  got  out  of  the 
way.  Two  months  later,  at  Missionary  Ridge,  the 
same  men  would  have  been  found  hard  to  drive  from  a 
battlefield. 

My  connection  with  Robinson's  regiment  involved  me 
in  an  amusing  affair.  In  October,  1872,  I  went  to  An- 
derson, Indiana,  where  Colonel  Robinson  lived,  to  make 
a  "Greeley  speech,"  and  when  I  reached  the  town,  I 
heard  that  Colonel  Robinson  was  a  candidate  for  con- 
gress on  the  Grant  ticket.  He  was  opposed  by  a  gentle- 
man whose  name  I  have  forgotten,  and  I  was  told  that 
the  opposition  to  Robinson  were  using  against  him  with 
some  effect  a  charge  that  he  had  exhibited  cowardice  at 


BATTLE  OF  CHICKAMAUGA.  179 

Chickamauga,  and  his  conduct  at  the  time  referred  to 
was  mentioned  in  support  of  the  charge.  I  addressed  a 
large  audience  at  the  Fair  Grounds,  and  discovered  Col- 
onel Robinson  present  and  apparently  one  of  my  most 
attentive  listeners.  After  the  conclusion  of  the  address, 
Colonel  Robinson  went  up  to  the  town  with  me,  and  on 
the  way  informed  me  that  arrangements  had  been  made 
for  me  to  speak  to  the  people  on  the  public  square  in  the 
evening,  and  that  a  large  number  of  soldiers  who  had 
served  with  me  would  be  present.  He  then  told  me  of 
the  charge  made  against  him,  and  reminded  me  of  the 
circumstances  already  detailed,  and  asked  me  to  do  him 
"justice"  in  my  evening  address.  Though  I  liked  him 
very  much,  I  bantered  him  by  saying  with  gravity  that, 
inasmuch  as  he  was  a  candidate  on  the  Grant  ticket,  it 
seemed  that  I  could  hardly  afford  to  help  him  until  after 
the  election,  but  as  I  made  him  a  kind  of  conditional 
promise  to  refer  to  the  subject,  he  left  me,  obviously  not 
well  satisfied  with  the  rather  unsatisfactory  assurance. 

Upon  reaching  the  stand  from  which  I  was  to  address 
the  people,  I  found  Colonel  Robinson  on  the  platform 
awaiting  my  arrival.  He  sat  and  listened  with  great 
patience  to  a  speech  of  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  as  I  in- 
tentionally acted  as  if  about  to  close,  he  plucked  me  and 
reminded  me  of  my  promise.  I  therefore  told  the  audi- 
ence that  I  had  heard  that  Colonel  Robinson  was  a  can- 
didate for  congress,  and  was  anxious  to  beat  a  good 
Greeley  man,  his  competitor,  and  that  some  of  the  sup- 
porters of  our  candidate  had  charged  and  claimed  that 
they  had  proved  the  charge  that  Robinson  had  acted  in  a 
cowardly  manner  at  Chickamauga.  It  was  dark  around 
me,  but  many  voices  responded  that  the  charge  had  been 
made  and  proved,  and  as  many  or  more  voices  denounced 
the  charge  as  false,  and  added  that  the  men  who  had  made 
the  charge  were  "liars. ' '  As  soon  as  I  could  make  myself 
heard,  I  asked  if  any  of  the  men  of  the  75th  Indiana 
had  made  or  repeated  the  charge?  This  was  answered 
by  shouts  of  "Yes,  yes;"  and  I  then  asked  any  one  of 


180  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  75th  Indiana  who  made  the  charge  to  come  forward 
to  the  stand ;  but,  as  I  expected  would  be  the  case,  no 
one  responded.  After  waiting  a  few  moments,  I  pro- 
ceeded to  tell  how  promptly  Robinson  had  put  himself 
under  my  orders,  and  how  gallantly  he  had  led  his 
large  regiment  of  raw  troops  in  his  charge  on  the  enemy, 
which  I  have  described,  and  then  told  of  my  meeting 
with  him  when  he  was  mourning  the  loss  of  his  regi- 
ment, and  of  my  offer  to  bet  him  "ten  dollars"  that, 
when  he  issued  rations  next  morning,  there  would  "not 
be  twenty-five  missing." 

This  disposed  of  the  charge  of  cowardice  against  Col- 
onel Robinson,  and  he  was  elected  to  congress.  I  have 
had  some  reason  since  that  time,  in  my  own  case,  to  ob- 
serve that  false  charges  of  military  misconduct  are  easily 
made,  and  that  some  soldiers  who  know  the  truth  are 
mean  enough  to  be  silent  when  the  charge  is  intended 
to  subserve  partisan  purposes. 

After  this  affair,  my  division  fell  back  to  a  point  near 
the  road,  leading  from  Lee  and  Gordon's  mills  to  Chat- 
tanooga, and  the  enemy  made  one  more  effort  to  reach 
our  left,  but  they  failed,  and  the  day  closed  with  the  ad- 
vantage in  our  favor. 

Bragg's  plan,  as  detailed  in  the  article  I  have  copied 
from  the  Atlanta  newspaper,  had  failed  ;  our  whole  army 
had  reached  the  field,  and  was  strong  on  our  left,  which 
was  the  point  of  danger,  though  our  corps  organizations 
were  broken  up,  and  really  the  battle  of  the  next  day 
wss  fought  by  divisions  and  brigades. 

After  supper,  I  left  my  troops  to  go  in  search  of  some 
superior  officer,  to  obtain  information  and  orders  for  the 
next  day.  I  found  the  headquarters  of  the  army,  and 
was  informed  that  I  could  not  see  either  General  Rose- 
crans  or  General  Crittenden,  and  returned  to  my  com- 
mand without  either  information  or  orders.  I  had  then 
been  without  sleep  forty-eight  hours.  I  gave  orders  to 
be  called  at  daybreak,  and  remember  no  more  until  I 
was  aroused  in  the  morning.  Taking  a  hasty  breakfast, 


BATTLE  OF  CHICKAMAUGA.  181 

I  started  out  to  find  the  line  to  be  occupied  ;  saw  General 
Thomas,  who  told  me  that  I  was  to  report  to  him  for  the 
day.  He  pointed  out  to  me  the  position  to  be  occupied 
by  Baird's  division,  of  Thomas's  14th  Corps.  Johnson, 
of  McCook's  21st  Corps,  moved  and  formed  on  Baird's 
right ;  my  own  division,  of  Crittenden's  20th  Corps, 
moved,  came  next ;  then  Reynolds,  of  the  14th  Corps, 
on  my  right ;  but  the  sun  was  up  before  our  lines  were 
formed,  though  we  could  distinctly  hear  the  enemy  at  a 
short  distance  in  the  woods  before  us.  Bragg  claims 
that  he  ordered  General  Polk  to  attack  us  at  daybreak. 
If  he  had  done  so,  with  the  force  and  energy  with  which 
the  Rebel  attack  was  made  at  eight  o'clock,  the  battle 
would  not  have  lasted  an  hour ;  we  would  have  gone  to 
Chattanooga  on  the  run.  But  I  have  always  believed, 
that,  after  the  rough  handling  the  Rebels  had  received 
on  the  19th,  we  were  as  well  prepared  for  battle  on  the 
morning  of  the  20th  as  they  were. 

About  eight  o'clock,  the  Rebels  made  an  attack,  first 
striking  Baird,  then  Johnson,  then  my  own  division,  and 
with  less  force  and  vehemence  the  attack  reached  Rey- 
nolds, who  was  connected  with  my  right,  but  his  line 
receded  to  the  rear,  to  conform  to  the  situation  of  the 
ground  and  maintain  his  connection  with  Brannan, 
whose  line  was  formed  facing  south  by  east.  When  the 
attack  was  made,  we  were  ready  for  them,  and  men 
never  fought  with  greater  determination.  The  roads  to 
our  front  were  almost  free  from  undergrowth,  so  that  we 
could  see  the  line  of  the  enemy  at  a  distance.  As  they 
came,  they  successively  descended  into  a  hollow,  which 
was  probably  three  hundred  yards  distant  from  my  left, 
but  approached  the  right  within  a  hundred  yards  or  less. 
When  they  got  fairly  into  motion,  they  rushed  forward 
in  double-quick  time,  with  the  Rebel  yell,  that  we  had 
then  heard  too  often  to  be  startled  by  it.  My  men,  be- 
hind hastily  constructed  defenses,  waited  in  silence  for 
orders  to  fire,  and,  when  orders  were  given,  a  steady, 


182  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

deliberate  volley  was  fired,  which  seemed  to  me  to  sweep 
the  field  to  our  front. 

Russell's  battery,  of  four  twenty-four  pound  howitzers, 
and  Cushing's  two  twelve-pound  and  four  Napoleons, 
and  Standart's  rifle  gun,  poured  shell  and  grape  into  the 
advancing  lines.  The  impulse  of  the  charge  was  such 
that  men  reached  within  thirty  yards  of  our  lines  before 
they  fell.  These  assaults  were  repeated  with  an  impet- 
uosity that  threatened  to  overwhelm  us,  but  I  had  such 
confidence  in  the  officers  and  men  of  my  division,  that  I 
at  no  time  felt  the  slightest  apprehension. 

The  next  operations  of  the  day,  that  most  threatened, 
were  those  directed  against  Baird's  division  on  our  ex- 
treme left. 

Once  the  attack  from  that  quarter  was  so  heavy  that 
Gross's  brigade,  then  in  reserve,  was  sent  to  support 
the  left,  against  a  movement  around  our  left  flank, 
Gross  was  repulsed  and  the  brigade  thrown  into  dis- 
order, and  while  riding  rapidly  to  rally  it,  my  horse  was 
struck  and  knocked  down.  I  left  him,  and  on  foot  took 
part  in  the  effort  to  rally  the  regiments.  We  succeeded 
in  this,  and  when  practically  reformed,  we  returned  to 
the  attack,  and  with  a  brigade  which  was  sent  to  our 
support,  the  enemy  were  repulsed,  and  the  left  cleared 
of  their  presence. 

I  returned,  and  found  that  my  horse,  which  had  been 
struck  with  a  glancing  bullet,  was  on  his  feet  again. 
From  this  time,  which  must  have  been  two  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  everything  seemed  safe  ;  the  enemy  had  been 
repulsed  at  all  points,  and  I  fully  anticipated  that  the 
day  would  close  with  victory  to  our  arms.  I  have 
already  said  that  the  last  operation  of  the  left  arm  of 
the  army,  was  the  repulse  of  the  enemy,  which  attempted 
to  turn  that  flank,  and  that  then  everything  seemed  to 
promise  the  final  repulse  and  defeat  of  Bragg's  army, 
and  a  rapid  pursuit  of  his  retreating  forces. 

I  do  not  know  with  accuracy  the  time  when  I  heard 
heavy  firing  to  the  right,  and  soon  noticed  by  the  sound, 


BATTLE  OF  CHICKAMAUGA.  183 

that  our  line  was   broken,   and   that  the  Rebels  were 
pressing  rapidly  forward  in  pursuit  of  retreating  troops. 

Feeling  that  everything  depended  upon  successfully 
resisting  this  advance  of  the  enemy,  I  withdrew  Hazen's 
brigade  from  the  line  of  battle,  and  ordered  him  to 
march  to  the  support  of  the  troops  who  were  defending 
the  line,  and  replaced  it  with  Gross's  brigade,  which  had 
already  suffered  heavily,  but  which  would,  I  felt,  be 
able  to  hold  the  position  from  which  the  enemy  had 
been  repeatedly  repulsed.  I  watched  Hazen's  move- 
ments until  I  heard  his  fire  and  the  shouts  of  his  men,  and 
then  attention  was  again  given  to  the  situation  of  affairs 
on  my  front. 

Surely,  no  spectacle  could  be  more  pitiable  than  the 
one  witnessed.  The  number  of  the  dead  was  astound- 
ing. I  looked  down  the  hollow  which  I  have  described 
as  approaching  my  right,  and  noticed  that  a  great  many 
apparently  wounded  men  had  crept  into  it  to  avoid  the 
fire  from  our  lines,  and  were  unable  to  go  farther. 
Surgeons  seemed  to  be  amongst  them,  while  sharp- 
shooters were  beyond  them  on  the  hill,  picking  off  such 
of  our  men  as  came  within  their  reach.  Colonel  King, 
the  gallant  commander  of  an  Indiana  regiment,  was  shot 
dead  while  standing  near  me,  and  others  were  killed  and 
wounded. 

I  did  not  spend  much  time  in  this  way,  however,  for 
the  firing  still  continued  to  recede,  and  soon  it  seemed 
as  if  our  line  was  irretrievably  broken.  About  this 
time,  the  commander  of  one  of  the  divisions  near  my 
own,  approached  me  and  said  that  I  was  now  the  rank- 
ing officer  on  the  field,  and  that  I  ought  to  order  a  re- 
treat of  the  divisions  on  the  left  to  Chattanooga.  He 
said  the  right  and  the  center  of  the  army  were  defeated, 
and  no  doubt  Rosecrans  and  Thomas  were  killed,  or  in 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  At  the  moment  the  prospect 
did  appear  gloomy,  and  I  was  inclined  to  apprehend  that 
matters  were  as  bad  as  he  supposed  them  to  be. 

I  told  him,  however,  that  if  it  was  true  the  Rebels  had 


184  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

defeated  the  right  and  center  of  the  army,  and  had 
captured  or  killed  Rosecrans,  Thomas,  McCook  and 
Crittenden,  that  so  far  as  I  was  concerned  they  might 
have  every  man  of  the  four  division  they  could  take ; 
that  we  would  cut  our  way  to  Chattanooga  ;  that  "I  had 
rather  be  killed,  and  be  d — d,  than  be  d — d  by  the 
country  for  leaving  the  battlefield  under  such  circum- 
stances." Not  long  after  this  conversation,  while  look- 
ing towards  the  eastern  slope  of  the  mountain,  where 
the  fighting  was  still  going  on,  I  noticed  the  battle-flag, 
which  I  was  soon  able  to  make  out  as  that  of  the  reserve 
corps,  commanded  by  General  Gordon  Granger.  Soon, 
by  the  aid  of  my  glass,  I  could  see  troops  moving  from 
the  north,  in  the  direction  of  the  advancing  enemy,  and 
then  I  noticed  the  meeting  of  the  reserve  corps  with  the 
enemy,  and  in  all  my  experience  I  have  never  witnessed 
such  desperate  hand  to  hand  fighting.  The  sound  of 
musketry  was  so  incessant  and  rapid  that  it  was  a  con- 
tinuous roar.  No  one  can  tell  how  long  this  lasted  ;  the 
advance  of  the  enemy  was  checked,  but  the  line  of  battle 
had  become  untenable. 

It  was  nearly  sunset,  when  I  observed  that  Reynolds' 
division  was  retiring  from  my  right,  moving  off.  I  rode 
to  the  rear,  in  order  to  learn  the  meaning  of  the  move- 
ment, and  met  Captain  Kellogg,  of  General  Thomas's 
staff,  with  orders  to  "retire  from  the  field,"  beginning 
on  the  right,  and  then  followed  one  of  those  scenes  that 
most  severely  tests  the  qualities  of  officers  and  men,  and 
where  the  difference  between  well-drilled  troops  and  the 
undisciplined  is  most  perceptible. 

I  ordered  Colonel  Gross's  brigade  to  retire  first,  but 
as  I  have  already  said,  his  troops  had  suffered  heavily 
during  the  day,  and  on  leaving  the  field  they  did  not 
maintain  their  character  for  steadiness  and  good  order. 
Cruft's  troops  left  the  field  as  if  on  parade.  I  sat  upon 
my  horse,  some  three  hundred  yards  in  the  rear  of  our 
late  position,  and  looking  over,  beheld  the  splendid  or- 
der of  Cruft's  troops  moving  off  the  field.  I  saw  the 


BATTLE  OF  CHICKAMAUGA.  185 

Rebels  cross  from  our  late  defenses,  and,  to  my  regret, 
a  Rebel  battery  approached  within  four  hundred  yards 
of  where  I  sat  on  my  horse,  at  the  foot  of  a  large  dead  pine 
tree.  As  Standart's  battery  passed  a  Rebel  shot  struck 
between  the  wheels  of  one  of  his  gun-carriages.  The 
axle  was  crushed  by  the  shot,  and  the  gun  seemed  to 
leap  in  the  air  and  then  fell  to  the  ground,  and  as  the 
Rebel  fire  seemed  aimed  at  Cruft's  flank,  I  expected 
that  soon  a  shot  would  enfilade  his  line  with  terrible 
slaughter.  While  completely  absorbed  in  the  scene  be- 
fore me,  and  in  an  agony  of  apprehension,  in  view  of 
what  I  supposed  to  be  the  danger  of  Cruft's  men  from 
the  battery,  my  horse  sunk  to  the  ground,  and  I  fell 
at  the  foot  of  the  tree  I  have  mentioned.  I  was  at 
once  conscious  that  my  hat  had  fallen  off,  and  that  my 
hair,  mouth,  eyes,  and  collar,  were  filled  with  some  soft 
substance,  but  what  it  was  I  could  not,  for  a  moment, 
blinded  as  I  was,  even  guess. 

I  arose  to  my  feet,  cleared  my  eyes,  and  then  found 
that  a  shot  from  the  Rebel  battery  had  struck  the  dead 
pine,  a  piece  from  the  tree  had  probably  fallen  upon  my 
horse,  and  prostrated  him,  and  had,  at  the  same  time, 
covered  me  with  the  soft,  rotten  wood.  I  waited  a  short 
time  to  see  Cruft  enter  the  skirt  of  timber,  called  for  a 
horse,  and  my  pony,  having  been  knocked  down  twice 
that  day,  was  again  on  his  feet.  I  mounted  him,  and 
rode  from  the  field,  up  the  slope  of  Missionary  ridge. 
Cruft  halted  at  the  top  of  the  hill,  and  sent  back  skir- 
mishers to  protect  the  men  still  coming  from  the  field, 
and  they  checked  the  advance  of  the  enemy,  which  was 
irresolute  and  feeble.  Hundreds  of  men  and  officers,  as 
they  came  up,  with  the  instincts  of  good  soldiers,  fell 
into  line  on  Cruft's  right,  and  very  soon  there  was  a 
force  that  would  have  been  dangerous  to  a  pursuing 
enemy.  As  soon  as  all  our  men  seemed  to  have  come 
up,  the  disorganized  men  in  the  line,  with  Cruft,  moved 
to  the  rear  and  down  the  west  slope  of  the  ridge,  into 
Chattanooga  valley,  and  from  thence  by  the  road  to 


186  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Rossville.  I  reached  Rossville  about  nine  o'clock  at 
night,  and  there  learned  the  cause,  as  well  as  the  extent, 
of  our  disaster.  My  own  loss  was  not  heavy,  in  view 
of  the  severe  fighting  in  which  my  division  had  partici- 
pated during  the  last  two  days,  and  I  felt  that  my  troops 
had  behaved  admirably,  and  were  entitled  to  the  great- 
est credit  for  their  steadiness  arid  courage.  I  knew  that 
no  part  of  the  misfortunes  of  the  day  could  be  attribu- 
ted to  my  divisions,  or  those  of  Baird  and  Johnson,  on 
my  left,  or  of  Reynolds  on  my  right,  and  upon  inquiry 
learned  that  our  failure  to  hold  the  field  against  the 
enemy,  was  attributable  to  one  of  those  accidents  that 
defeat  the  counsels  of  the  wisest  and  disappoint  the  ex- 
pectations of  the  brave.  It  was  unfortunate  that  in  the 
rapid  movements  of  the  army  immediately  preceding 
and  on  the  first  day  of  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  the 
organization  of  the  army  corps  was  broken  up.  The 
first  effect  of  this  was  the  loss  of  the  services  of  the  two 
distinguished  commanders  of  the  20th  and  21st  Corps — 
Generals  McCook  and  Crittenden. 

Crittenden's  corps,  with  which  I  was  connected,  was 
composed  of  three  divisions  commanded  by  myself, 
Brigadier-General  Thomas  L.  Wood  and  Brigadier-Gen- 
eral H.  Van  Cleve,  ranking  respectively  in  the  order  I 
have  named.  In  the  actual  formation  of  the  line  of 
battle  on  the  20th  (as  I  have  stated)  Baird's  division, 
14th  Corps,  held  the  extreme  left,  with  the  divisions  of 
Johnson,  of  the  20th  Corps,  my  own,  of  the  21st,  Rey- 
nolds and  Brannan,  of  the  14th,  with  Woods,  of  the  21st 
Corps,  on  Brannan 's  right.  The  result  of  this  condition 
of  things  was  that  McCook  and  Crittenden  were  practi- 
cally left  without  commands,  and  Thomas  in  fact  acted 
not  as  corps  commander  but  as  second  in  command  of 
the  army. 

During  the  day,  as  I  have  said,  the  battle  was  fought 
by  divisions,  and  orders  were  given  by  General  Rose- 
crans  directly  to  division  commanders  instead  of  to  the 
commanders  of  corps,  who  would  have  had  the  right  by 


BATTLE  OF  CHICK  AM  AUGA.  187 

virtue  of  their  rank  to  have  modified  them  according 
to  cirumstances  with  which  they  would  have  been 
familiar  and  to  have  superintended  their  execution. 

Our  defeat  at  Chickamauga  resulted  from  the  fact 
that  General  Rosecrans,  ignorant  that  Brannan's  division 
separated  the  divisions  of  Reynolds  and  Wood,  issued  an 
order  directly  to  General  Wood  directing  him  to  "close  up 
on  Reynolds  and  support  him."  If  this  order  had  been 
sent  through  a  corps  commander  it  would  have  been  his 
duty  to  know,  and  he  would  have  known,  that  Wood  could 
not  "close  up  on  Reynolds,"  without  leaving  his  place 
in  the  line  of  battle  and  moving  to  the  left  the  whole 
length  of  Brannan's  division  into  a  position  where  his 
division  would  be  useless  and  the  line  of  battle  en- 
dangered. 

Rosecrans  has  claimed  that  Wood  should  have  known 
that  the  consequences  mentioned  would  certainly  follow 
a  literal  obedience  of  the  order,  and  ought  himself  to 
have  assumed  that  the  order  was  given  in  ignorance  of 
actual  conditions,  and  it  was  therefore  his  duty  to  have 
disobeyed  his  directions.  The  order  was  received  by 
Wood,  and  he  proceeded  to  obey  it  by  withdrawing  his 
division  from  the  line  of  battle,  which  was  at  once  per- 
ceived by  the  enemy,  who  passed  the  opening  in  the  line, 
caught  Wood  in  his  movement,  overwhelmed  Brannan's 
right  and  Van  Cleve's  left,  and  changed  the  fortunes  for 
the  day. 


188  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Retreat  to  Chattanooga — Rebel  artillery — General  Rosecrans — McCook 
and  Crittenden  relieved — Resigned — Letter  giving  reasons — Letter 
from  Lincoln — Wounded — Assigned  to  command  of  14th  Army 
Corps. 

The  army  was  defeated  on  the  field  of  Chickamauga 
from  causes  which  I  have  explained,  but  it  was  nowise 
demoralized.  The  soldiers  knew  that  a  false  move  had 
opened  our  lines  to  the  enemy,  and  that  until  that 
unfortunate  incident  they  were  victorious  at  all  points, 
for  every  assault  upon  our  lines  had  been  repulsed 
with  great  strength.  They  knew  that  the  enemy  was 
severely  handled,  and  that  Bragg's  conduct  on  the 
20th  of  September  satisfied  the  most  timid  that  he  had 
no  disposition  to  encounter  the  Army  of  the  Cumber- 
land again  in  the  field.  I  remained  in  position  the 
whole  day,  on  the  21st,  at  Rossville,  and  about  nine 
o'clock  in  the  evening  my  division  withdrew  from  its 
position  and  moved  into  Chattanooga,  with  as  much 
steadiness  and  composure  as  it  had  passed  that  city 
nearly  two  weeks  before,  and  we  took  our  place  in  line 
formed  for  the  defense  of  the  city  with  a  determination 
to  hold  it  to  the  last. 

The  ground  was  cleared  and  earthworks  were  com- 
menced, under  the  direction  of  the  engineers,  when  late 
in  the  afternoon  the  Rebel  army  appeared  on  Mission 
Ridge  to  our  front,  and  about  the  same  time  they  took 
possession  on  Lookout  Mountain,  which  at  a  distance 
of  less  than  two  miles  overlooked  the  city.  We  pushed 
the  preparations  for  the  defense  of  the  city  rapidly, 
and  Bragg  caused  his  artillery  to  be  placed  along  the 
"Ridge"  to  our  front  and  on  Lookout  Mountain  to 
our  right,  and  there  were  probably  a  hundred  guns  of 
different  caliber  looking  into  our  camps  and  threatening 


IN  COMMAND  OF  14TH  ARMY  CORPS.  189 

our  annihilation.  I  will  never  forget  the  feeling  of  awe 
with  which  I  contemplated  this  spectacle  ;  and  as  all 
parts  of  our  camps  seemed  equally  exposed  to  danger,  I 
determined  to  take  a  position  where  I  could  watch  the 
"grand  opening."  I  confess  I  expected  that  from  the 
commanding  position  of  the  Rebel  artillery,  hundreds  of 
feet  above  us,  and  within  what  seemed  to  be  easy  range 
of  all  points  in  the  city,  our  loss  in  killed  and  wounded 
would  be  heavy.  With  this  impression  on  my  mind,  I 
seated  myself  with  a  few  officers  on  one  side  of  the 
earthworks  on  my  line  where  I  could  observe  all  points 
on  the  Rebel  line,  and  waited  for  what  I  imagined 
would  be  the  coming  storm.  I  did  not  wait  long  until 
the  Rebel  guns  at  all  points  along  their  line  opened  as  if 
by  a  single  command,  and  then  in  a  few  moments  the 
roar  of  the  cannon  on  the  hills  was  repeated  by  the 
bursting  of  the  shells  high  up  in  the  air,  and  near  to 
and  upon  the'earth  around  us.  My  first  impression,  pro- 
duced by  the  roar  and  apparent  confusion,  was,  that  the 
artillery  had  inflicted  immense  injury,  but,  after  look- 
ing in  every  direction,  I  could  not  see  a  sign  of  harm. 
After  the  first  volley,  the  fire  from  the  hills  was  kept  up 
slowly,  but  regularly,  so  that  it  was  comparatively  easy 
to  watch  its  effect.  For  a  half  hour,  perhaps,  our  at- 
tention was  active,  but  as  we  saw  no  evidence  of  injury 
done  by  it,  our  apprehensions  relaxed,  so  that  I  noticed 
many  men,  who  at  first  seemed  excited  and  alarmed, 
sound  asleep. 

For  myself,  I  lost  all  interest  in  the  affair,  so  that  I 
cannot  tell  how  long  the  cannonade  continued.  I  pre- 
sume that  one  of  the  reasons,  and  perhaps  the  principal 
one,  why  the  artillery  of  the  Rebels  did  us  no  harm  was, 
that  the  artillerists  from  the  elevation  of  their  pieces 
could  not  depress  them  so  as  to  aim  them  at  any  object, 
and  whatever  effect  they  accomplished  was  purely  acci- 
dental. 

This  effort  to  dislodge  us  having  failed  so  signally, 
the  army  felt  secure  in  its  possession  of  the  city,  and 


190  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Bragg,  who  may  have  expected  the  scarcity  of  supplies 
would  compel  the  army  to  evacuate  Chattanooga,  de- 
tached Longstreet,  with  the  troops  brought  by  him  from 
Virginia,  to  seek  Burnside  in  East  Tennessee  and  defeat 
or  drive  him  from  the  country. 

In  the  meantime,  the  loss  of  the  battle  of  Chicka- 
mauga  by  our  army  was  followed  by  false  reports, 
which  were  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the  North, 
and  produced  great  excitement  throughout  the  country, 
and  reports  were  made  to  the  war  department  by  the  as- 
sistant secretary  of  war,  Mr.  Dana,  who  was  on  the  bat- 
tlefied  with  Rosecrans,  and  left  the  field  with  the  general, 
and  was  with  him  in  Chattanooga  hours  before  the 
struggle  was  over,  and  I  have  always  believed  that  Gar- 
field  took  no  pains  to  make  the  actual  conduct  of  the 
officers  and  soldiers  known  to  the  president  or  the  secre- 
tary of  war. 

The  newspapers  were  filled  with  the  most  false  and 
extravagant  reports  of  the  battle,  and  of  the  conduct  of 
the  troops  of  different  commands.  I  remember'one  of 
the  reports  published  in  a  Cincinnati  paper  was,  that 
Crittenden's  command  broke  and  fled,  etc.,  while  the 
truth  was,  that  Crittenden's  corps,  either  from  the  acci- 
dents of  the  first  day's  separations  or  from  the  practice 
of  Rosecrans,  which  was  to  issue  orders  directly  to  any 
officer  of  any  rank  whose  services  he  needed,  in  disregard 
of  all  immediate  officers,  was  broken  up  on  both  days  of 
the  battle,  and  Crittenden  and  McCook  were  left  without 
a  command. 

It  would  have  been  easy  for  Rosecrans  to  have  over- 
come this  difficulty  by  assigning  to  Crittenden  and  Mc- 
Cook the  command  of  certain  troops  in  the  line  of  bat- 
tle, as  Johnson's  division  of  the  20th  Corps  and  my  own 
of  the  21st  Corps  were  assigned  to  Thomas.  Baird,  of 
the  14th  Corps  (Thomas) ,  was  on  the  extreme  left,  and 
Johnson's  and  my  own  followed.  If  Crittenden's  had 
been  assigned  to  the  command  of  Reynolds,  Brennan's 
and  Wood's  divisions  came  next  in  the  order  of  the 


IN  COMMAND  OF  14TH  ARMY  CORPS.  191 

formation  of  the  line  of  battle,  the  fatal  order  to  Wood  to 
"close  up  on  Reynolds  and  support  him,"  would  not  have 
reached  Wood,  and  the  Rebels  would  have  been  defeated 
at  Chickamauga  ;  or  the  order  before  spoken  of  had  been 
sent  to  Crittenden,  he  would  have  withheld  it  or  super- 
intended its  execution.  The  result  of  the  misrepresenta- 
tions and  the  clamor  which  followed  the  battle  of  Chicka- 
mauga led  the  war  department  to  perpetrate  acts  of  the 
most  signal  injustice  to  officers  and  men. 

Rosecrans  was  relieved  from  the  command  of  the 
army,  and  the  20th  and  21st  Corps  were  broken  up,  and 
McCook  and  Crittenden  ordered  before  a  court  of  in- 
quiry. My  division  was  attached  to  the  4th  Corps,  the 
command  of  which  was  given  to  General  Gordon  Granger. 
I  disliked  Granger,  and  submitted  to  that  part  of  the 
arrangement  only  as  a  matter  of  duty,  and  I  felt  indig- 
nant that  the  21st  Corps,  to  which  my  division  be- 
longed, should  be  broken  up  in  the  face  of  the  enemy. 

Military  men  are  often  accused  of  egotism,  and  per- 
haps there  may  be  some  grounds  for  the  accusation,  but 
at  the  same  time  no  man  can  successfully  command  sol- 
diers who  does  not  maintain  his  full  claim  to  respect. 
The  spirit  which  prompts  men  to  be  jealous  of  the  honor 
of  the  organization  to  which  they  are  attached  is  one  to 
be  cultivated,  within  reasonable  limits,  and  nothing 
more  dishonors  a  commander  in  the  estimation  of  his 
officers  and  soldiers  than  a  belief  that  he  is  insensible  to 
his  own  honor  or  theirs. 

I  felt  constrained  by  these  considerations  to  emphasize 
my  sense  of  the  injustice  of  the  order  which  relieved 
Crittenden,  and  blotted  the  21st  Corps  out  of  existence, 
by  tendering  my  resignation,  which  I  did  in  the  follow- 
ing letter,  addressed  to  the  adjutant-general : 

"HEADQUARTERS  2o  DIVISION  21sT  ARMY  CORPS, 

"CHATTANOOGA,  TENN.,  Octobers,  1863. 
"SiR — I  respectfully  tender  the  resignation  of  my  com- 
mission as  major-general  of  volunteers  in  the  army  of  the 


192  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

United  States.  I  am  not  indebted  to  the  United  States  ; 
I  have  no  public  property  in  my  possession  ;  there  are  no 
charges  against  me.  I  was  last  paid  up  to  and  including 
June  30,  1863,  by  Major  N.  M.  Knapp,  paymaster. 

"I  tender  my  resignation  because  the  late  order  of  the 
war  department,  which  abolishes  the  21st  Army  Corps, 
and  orders  its  late  commander,  Major-General  Critten- 
den,  before  a  court  of  inquiry,  implies,  and  will  be  un- 
derstood by  the  country  as  implying,  the  severest  cen- 
sure upon  the  conduct  of  the  officers  and  men  lately 
composing  the  corps. 

"The  order  is,  in  its  circumstances,  without  example 
in  the  military  history  of  the  country.  No  corps,  be- 
fore this,  has  been  deprived  of  its  commander,  and 
stricken  out  of  existence  within  a  few  days  after  a  great 
battle,  in  the  midst  of  important  military  operations,  and 
in  the  face  of  the  enemy.  By  this  sudden,  decisive, 
sweeping  order,  the  government  has  given  to  the  mis- 
representations of  the  fugitives  from  the  battlefield  the 
weight  of  its  own  apparent  indorsement,  slander  is  digni- 
fied into  history,  and  henceforth  refutation  is  impossible. 

"I  did  not  enter  the  service  of  the  country  for  this  re- 
ward, nor  can  I  by  remaining  in  the  army  give  effect 
and  force  to  the  imputation  which  the  order  implies 
upon  the  memory  of  the  dead,  and  the  character  of  my 
comrades  who  survived  the  battle  of  Chickamauga. 

"I  respectfully  urge  that  my  resignation  be  at  once 
accepted.  I  would  not  willingly  separate  myself  from 
the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  until  it  is  again  ready  to 
assume  the  offensive,  but  I  hope  to  receive  notice  of 
the  acceptance  of  my  resignation  speedily,  and  that  it 
will  by  that  time  be  ready  to  move  forward. 

"Respectfully, 
"JOHN  M.  PALMER,  Maj.-Gen.  Vols. 

"To  the  Adj. -Gen.,  U.  S.  A." 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  reports  upon  which  the 
war  department  made  the  order,  were  the  work  of  the 


IN  COMMAND  OF  14TH  ARMY  CORPS.  193 

men  who  left  the  battlefield  early  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
20th.  When  they  left  the  field,  the  left,  which  I  have 
already  said  was  composed  of  the  division  of  Baird,  of 
the  14th  Corps  ;  Johnson,  of  the  20th ;  Palmer,  of  the 
21st,  and  Reynolds,  of  the  14th,  with  detached  support 
from  other  divisions  covering  the  extreme  left,  had  been 
successful  in  repelling  every  assault  upon  their  position, 
so  that  I  was  able  to  detach  Hazen's  brigade  to  assist  in 
resisting  the  Rebel  torrent  which  had  penetrated  the  cen- 
ter and  threatened  to  carry  everything  before  it.  It  is 
true,  Crittenden  had  gone  with  Rosecrans  into  Chatta- 
nooga, but  as  I  have  already  stated,  he  had  no  command 
during  the  day,  but  that  fact  was  known,  or  ought  to 
have  been  known.  It  is  due  to  General  Rosecrans 
to  say  that  he  was  no  party  to  the  injustice  which  I 
resented,  and  he,  in  his  indorsement  on  my  letter  of 
resignation,  attempted  to  secure  for  us  justice.  He  in- 
formed me  that  he  had  forwarded  my  resignation  to  the 
adj  utant-general . 

I  copy  his  indorsement  in  full,  as  it  carries  with  it  the 
refutation  of  one  of  the  calumnies  that  is  even  now 
sometimes  reproduced  by  careless  historians  : 

"HEADQUARTERS  OP  DEP'T  OF  THE  CUMBERLAND, 

"CHATTANOOGA,  October  P,  1863. 

"Respectfully  forwarded,  wholly  disapproving  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  resignation  of  this  prudent,  brave  and 
valuable  officer,  which  would  be  a  serious  injury  to  the 
service.  I  also  disagree  with  him  in  his  opinion  that 
the  consolidation  of  the  corps  implies  a  censure  on  the 
officers  and  men  composing  it.  I  doubt  not  the  war  de- 
partment will  as  promptly  vindicate  these  officers  and 
men,  as  I  most  certainly  shall  in  my  report  of  their  mag- 
nificent fighting  in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga. 

"W.  S.  ROSECRANS,  Major-General." 

Nothwithstanding  this  indorsement  by  General  Rose- 
13 


194  THE  STORY  OF   AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

crans,  I  was  notified  of  the  acceptance  of  my  resigna- 
tion, and.  I  prepared  to  quit  the  army.  I  have  before 
me  the  original  letter  which  I  addressed  to  the  adjutant- 
general.  Its  history  is  curious.  In  1875,  it  was  sent  to 
General  Grant,  then  president  of  the  United  States,  by 
the  secretary  of  war,  Mr.  Belknap. 

It  was  handed  to  me  by  the  secretary  of  President 
Cleveland,  Major  Pruden,  with  the  accompanying 
papers. 

It  was  forwarded  to  the  secretary  of  war  with  the  in- 
dorsement made  by  General  Rosecrans,  which  I  have 
copied.  General  Halleck  indorsed  upon  the  letter  : 

"Acceptance  of  this  resignation  is  recommended. 

"H.  W.  HALLECK,  General  in  Chief." 
"  October  26,  1868." 

Mr.  Stanton  indorsed  :    *  'Accepted,  E .  M .  STANTON.  ' ' 
"Accepted,  to  take  effect  December  1st." 

The  indorsement  of  Mr.  Stanton  was  erased  upon  the 
original  letter.  On  October  28,  1863,  I  was  notified  of 
my  assignment  to  the  14th  Army  Corps,  and  after  a 
short  leave  of  absence,  I  assumed  the  command  of  that 
corps.  It  seems,  however,  that  as  late  as  December  13, 
1863,  the  acceptance  of  my  resignation  was  still  an  open 
question.  I  give  a  note  of  that  date,  addressed  by  the 
secretary  of  war  to  the  president,  and  of  his  pencil 
memorandum  by  way  of  reply  in  fac-simile: 

"WAR  DEPARTMENT, 
"WASHINGTON  CITY,  December  12,  1863. 
MR.    PRESIDENT — Will    you    please    to    inform    me 
whether  General  Palmer's  resignation  was  accepted  by 
your  direction? 

"Yours  truly,          EDWIN  M.  STANTON." 


IN  COMMAND  OF  14TH  ARMY  CORPS. 


195 


xW^K/v, 


\J    Ai 


X*, 


It  was  said,  with  what  truth  I  do  not  know,  however, 
but  I  have  heard  that  it  was  thought  at  Washington 
that  my  complaint  that  the  order  was  made  upon  "mis- 
representations made  by  fugitives  from  the  battlefield," 
was  intended  to  reflect  upon  certain  official  gentlemen, 
not  directly  connected  with  the  army,  but  who  happened 
to  be  present  when  the  battle  commenced,  but  left  the 
field  before  its  conclusion. 

The  events  have  long  since  become  a  part  of  the  history 
of  the  times,  and  while  I  confess  the  justice  of  the  con- 
jecture as  to  my  meaning,  I  will  not  mention  the  names 
of  the  men  to  whom  I  referred. 


196  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

About  the  opening  of  the  campaign  directed  against 
Chattanooga,  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  had  a  visita- 
tion of  officials  from  Washington.  The  Army  of  the 
Potomac  had  suffered  from  the  time  of  its  organization 
from  the  interference  of  civilians,  but  the  Army  of  the 
Cumberland  had  heretofore  escaped  the  infliction,  and 
I  was  satisfied  that  we  had  suffered  from  the  misrepre- 
sentations of  these  officious  meddlers. 

The  politicians  during  the  war  were  much  more  inter- 
ested in  making  presidents  and  the  management  of  the 
politics  of  the  country  than  they  were  in  the  success  of 
our  armies  ;  and  as  the  reverse  at  Chattanooga  put  an 
end  to  the  usefulness  of  Rosecrans  as  a  prospective  presi- 
dential candidate,  they  were  no  longer  interested  in  the 
future  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland. 

They  then  turned  their  attention  to  some  other  direc- 
tion, or  concluded  that  the  prospect  of  finding  a  military 
rival  for  Mr.  Lincoln  was  hopeless.  After  being  notified 
that  my  resignation  was  accepted,  I  left  Chattanooga,  on 
the  14th  day  of  October,  by  a  steamboat  which  was  plied 
between  that  place  and  Bridgeport,  where  I  expected  to 
take  the  railroad  for  Nashville.  I  was  greatly  surprised, 
on  my  arrival  at  Bridgeport,  to  be  overtaken  by  a  courier, 
with  an  order  from  the  adjutant-general  setting  aside  the 
acceptance  of  my  resignation,  with  directions  to  resume 
my  command  at  Chattanooga. 

In  pursuing  this  narrative  of  the  changes  in  the  com- 
mand of  the  army,  I  have  neglected  to  notice  the  opera- 
tions against  the  enemy. 

I  have  already  stated,  that  on  the  22d  day  of  Septem- 
ber the  enemy  occupied  Lookout  Mountain,  Missionary 
Ridge  and  the  valley  south  and  west  of  Chattanooga. 
They  also  pushed  their  skirmishers  as  near  to  our  lines 
as  was  safe,  and  then,  being  in  possession  of  the  sur- 
rounding elevation,  they  put  all  their  artillery  in  posi- 
tion and  attempted  to  shell  us  out  of  Chattanooga.  My 
own  position  faced  Missionary  Ridge,  east  of  the  town, 
and,  fancying  that  the  greater  elevation  of  the  Rebel 


IN  COMMAND  OF  14TH  ARMY  CORPS.  197 

batteries  gave  them  greatly  the  advantage  of  us,  I  took 
my  position  on  the  earthwork  to  my  front,  prepared  for 
the  worst.  Our  whole  army,  on  the  occasion,  watched 
the  operations  of  the  enemy  with  a  lively  interest.  It 
was  reported  that  some  of  the  men,  and,  indeed,  some 
officers,  dug  holes  in  the  ground  to  find  the  means  of 
protection  against  the  dreaded  fire  of  the  Rebel  artillery. 
We  waited  with  great  interest  to  witness  the  terrible  ef- 
fects of  the  Rebel  fire,  but,  as  we  waited  and  watched, 
and  saw  that  no  harm  was  being  done,  the  interest 
flagged,  and  men  went  about  their  usual  duties,  and 
afterwards  paid  no  attention  to  the  artillery.  I  confess 
I  was  surprised  that  the  fire  did  so  little  mischief. 

A  few  days  after  this  occurred,  I  met  with  an  accident 
that  very  nearly  terminated  my  military  career. 

It  was  one  of  the  foggy  mornings  not  uncommon  in 
the  Tennessee  valley  when  I  heard  very  sharp  firing  along 
my  front,  as  if  my  line  of  pickets  was  engaged,  and, 
when  I  reached  the  outer  line  of  earthworks,  I  met  them 
coming  in,  pursued  by  a  superior  Rebel  force.  I  at  once 
ordered  a  regiment  to  support  my  pickets  ;  and,  with  that 
reenforcement,  we  drove  the  Rebels  back  upon  their  own 
supporting  force.  I  took  part  in  this  affair  personally, 
and,  after  we  had  repulsed  them,  I  came  back  over  my 
own  outer  works,  and  saw  that  Colonel  Sedge  wick's  2d 
Kentucky  had  constructed  an  inner  work,  the  parapet  of 
which  was  so  high  that  I  could  only  see  the  top  of  the 
hats  of  the  men.  Angry  at  seeing  the  height  of  the 
parapet,  I  sprang  up  into  an  embrasure,  turned  my  body 
sharply  to  the  right  to  speak  to  Colonel  Sedgewick,  who 
stood  by,  and  at  the  moment  I  was  struck  by  one  of  the 
elongated  missiles  we  all  knew  so  well,  to  the  right  of 
the  spine,  which  passed  over  my  spine  and  plowed  its 
way  through  my  hip. 

I  at  first  supposed  that  I  had  been  struck  with  a  stone  or 
some  other  heavy  substance,  but,  a  moment  after,  I  readily 
guessed,  from  the  faces  of  those  around  me,  that  it  was  a 
"hit."  It  was  the  only  occasion  when  I  was  benefited 


198  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

by  being  angry.  If  I  had  stood  square  to  the  front,  the 
missile  would  have  passed  through  my  body ;  as  I  stood, 
it  was  only  a  flesh  wound.  I  suffered  but  little  from 
this  unfortunate  wound,  beyond  being  laughed  at  by  my 
acquaintances.  It  justified  me,  however,  in  asking  for 
and  obtaining  a  short  leave  of  absence  ;  and,  when  I  re- 
turned, I  found  General  George  H.Thomas  in  command 
of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  and  I  succeeded  him 
in  command  of  the  14th  Army  Corps.  I  confess  this 
promotion  gratified  me,  and  the  more  so,  as  I  felt  that  I 
owed  it  in  a  great  measure  to  the  good  opinion  of  Gen- 
eral Thomas,  under  whose  eyes  I  had  fought  at  Chicka- 
mauga. 

The  corps  was  composed  of  three  divisions,  the  first 
commanded  by  Brigadier-General  Richard  W.  Johnson, 
the  second  by  Brigadier-General  Jefferson  C.  Davis,  and 
the  third  by  Brigadier-General  Absalom  Baird.  Each 
of  the  divisions  consisted  of  three  brigades,  with  the 
usual  proportion  of  artillery ;  the  whole  amounting  to 
about  fourteen  thousand  men.  The  division  command- 
ers all  belonged  to  the  regular  army.  General  Johnson 
and  General  Baird  were  graduates  of  the  military 
academy  at  West  Point,  and  General  Davis  was  ap- 
pointed from  civil  life  for  his  services  in  the  Mexican 
war.  He  was  with  Major  Anderson  at  Fort  Sumter.  I 
think  these  officers  were  not  pleased  that  a  volunteer 
officer  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  corps,  but 
we  soon  became  excellent  friends,  and  cooperated  with 
the  utmost  good  feeling.  Johnson  was  a  Kentuckian, 
and  not  over  fond  of  the  anti-slavery  policy  of  the  gov- 
ernment. He  was,  however,  a  patriotic  man  and  was  for 
the  Union.  Davis  was  an  Indiana  copperhead,  as  I 
often  told  him,  but  he  was  a  soldier.  He  loved  his 
country  and  honored  its  flag.  One  day  on  the  Atlanta 
campaign  I  said  to  him,  "Davis,  your  friends  are  attack- 
ing your  pickets."  He  answered,  "My  friends  will  find 
they  have  a  d — d  hard  job  before  them."  He  was  one 
of  the  bravest  of  the  brave. 


IN  COMMAND  OF  THE  14TH  ARMY  CORPS.  199 

Baird,  who  is  now  living,  had  belonged  to  the  depart- 
ment of  the  adjutant-general  before  the  war.  He  did 
not  like  my  assignment  to  the  corps,  and  I  had  much 
trouble  with  him  ;  so  that  one  day  I  called  upon  General 
Thomas  and  asked  him  to  relieve  Baird,  and  give  me  a 
division  commander  "who  will  not  criticise  and  quibble 
over  my  orders."  Thomas  said,  "Well,  general,  wait 
until  we  have  a  battle,  then  if  you  want  Baird  relieved, 
I  will  do  it."  We  entered  upon  the  Atlanta  campaign 
and  fought  several  battles  ;  Thomas  said  to  me  one  day, 
"How  about  relieving  Baird?"  I  answered,  "No,  Baird 
is  a  fighter — he  devils  the  Rebs  more  than  he  ever  did 
me."  General  Baird  is  now  retired,  but  I  had  no  more 
gallant  officer,  and  we  became  very  warm  friends. 
After  my  assignment  to  the  14th  Army  Corps  I  remained 
in  Chattanooga  devoting  all  my  time  to  my  duties.  I 
may  as  well  confess  here,  that  when  I  resigned  my  com- 
mission in  the  army  I  was  indignant  at  the  manner  in 
which  Rosecrans  was  treated ;  no  braver  man  ever  lived. 
I  felt  that  Crittenden  was  badly  treated  ;  my  own  division 
of  his  corps  had  fought  at  Chickamauga  and  repulsed 
the  desperate  charges  of  the  enemy  and  held  its  ground. 
Wood  was  merely  unfortunate ;  he  had  attempted  to 
obey  an  order  which  was  dictated  by  ignorance  of  the 
situation.  After  the  Rebel  flood  had  passed  through  the 
place  he  had  left  open  by  his  attempt  to  move  to  his  left, 
he  had  done  all  that  was  possible  to  defend  his  position  ; 
the  order  breaking  up  the  21st  Corps  was  a  cruel  one. 
I  therefore  regarded  the  refusal  of  the  war  department 
to  accept  my  resignation  and  the  assignment  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  14th  Corps  as  a  vindication  of  the  conduct 
of  the  21st  Corps  on  the  battlefield  of  Chickamauga. 

About  February  21,  1864,  I  was  ordered  by  General 
Thomas  to  make  a  heavy  reconnoissance  upon  Ringgold 
and  Dalton,  where  General  Joe  Johnston's  headquarters 
were.  About  that  time,  General  Sherman  was  engaged 
in  an  enterprise  against  Meridian,  Mississippi,  and  Gen- 
eral Thomas  supposed  that  as  the  Rebels  held  interior 


200  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

lines  and  the  railroad,  Johnston  would  send  some  of  his 
troops  to  reinforce  the  troops  who  were  resisting  Sher- 
man's advance.  On  February  22d,  I  marched  from 
Chattanooga,  and  in  the  morning  reached  Ringgold, 
Georgia,  where  my  troops  encamped  for  the  night.  On 
the  23d,  we  marched  to  Tunnel  Hill  and  engaged  the 
enemy  with  my  skirmishers,  and  after  driving  them  be- 
fore us  through  the  village  of  Tunnel  Hill,  I  fell  back  to 
Ringgold. 

That  evening  I  signaled  General  Thomas  that  if  he 
would  order  the  troops  at  Cleveland  to  move  down  the 
railroad,  I  would  look  into  Dal  ton. 

I  was  notified  on  the  24th  that  Cruft's  division  and 
Long's  cavalry  would  proceed  down  the  road  to  my  left, 
and  would  be  in  position  on  the  morning  of  the  25th. 
On  the  morning  of  February  25th,  I  took  Baird's  divi- 
sion of  about  thirty-five  hundred  men  and  moved  off  to 
the  left,  across  the  mountain  north  of  Buzzard  Roost 
Gap,  leaving  Johnson  and  Davis  to  attack  the  gap. 

After  crossing  the  spur  of  the  mountain,  I  reached  a 
valley  which  I  descended  to  the  right  until  we  struck 
the  enemy  in  force.  In  the  meantime,  Cruft's  infantry 
were  upon  my  left  and  Long's  cavalry  upon  the  extreme 
left.  We  drove  the  enemy  back  until  we  became  satisfied 
that  Johnston's  men  in  Dalton  were  aroused. 

Johnston,  who  had  detached  Hardee's  corps  to  assist 
the  forces  who  were  fighting  Sherman,  recalled  it.  Be- 
fore the  reconnoissance  ended,  we  captured  some  of  the 
men  who  had  been  sent  to  Mississippi. 

In  the  meantime,  General  Thomas  had  come  up,  and 
as  the  object  of  the  reconnoissance  was  accomplished, 
we  fell  back  to  Lee's  house  at  a  distance  of  about  four 
miles  and  camped  there  that  night.  On  the  next  day, 
we  returned  to  Tunnel  Hill  in  order  to  cover  the  with- 
drawal of  Johnson's  and  Davis's  divisions,  which  were 
still  at  Buzzard's  Roost  Gap,  where  they  had  had  some 
lively  work  and  suffered  some  loss.  Joe  Johnston,  then 
in  command  of  the  Rebel  forces  in  and  around  Dalton, 


IN  COMMAND  OF  THE  14TH  AEMY  CORPS.  201 

was  deceived  by  our  reconnoissance,  and  probably  sup- 
posed that  our  demonstration  was  an  advance  of  the 
whole  army ;  at  all  events  he  behaved  with  his  usual 
caution.  I  posted  Baird's  division  north  of  Tunnel  Hill, 
and  at  night  withdrew  the  divisions  of  Johnson  and 
Davis  without  difficulty.  Here  occurred  one  of  those 
vexatious  circumstances  which  it  was  impossible  to  fore- 
see or  prevent.  It  was  intended  to  withdraw  our  troops 
after  dark  with  the  utmost  silence  and  secrecy,  but  when 
they  were  moving  off,  I  was  astounded  by  the  blaze  of 
some  of  the  wooden  houses  in  Tunnel  Hill,  that  lighted 
up  the  valley  and  surrounding  hills  and  disclosed  the 
whole  movement.  The  burning  of  the  houses  at  any 
time  would  have  been  an  act  of  vandalism,  but  nothing 
then  could  have  been  more  foolish.  Johnston  did  not 
take  advantage  of  the  opportunity,  so  that  nothing  came 
of  it,  and  our  troops  retired  to  their  stations,  where  we 
remained  until  May  1,  1864,  when  the  army  commenced 
what  is  now  known  as  the  "Atlanta  Campaign." 


202  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Beginning  of  the  Atlanta  campaign — Johnston  abandons  Resaca — Move- 
ments of  the  14th  Army  Corps — Assault  on  Kenesaw  mountain — 
Enter  Marietta — Battle  of  Peach  Tree  Creek — Correspondence — Re- 
lieved of  command  of  the  14th  Army  Corps. 

The  Union  forces  which  commenced  the  Atlanta  cam- 
paign were  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  commanded 
by  Major-General  George  H.  Thomas,  the  Army  of  the 
Ohio,  by  Major-General  John  M.  Scofield,  and  the  Army 
of  the  Tennessee,  which  came  up  on  the  right  of  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland,  which  was  under  the  com- 
mand of  Major-General  James  B.  McPherson.  The 
cavalry,  except  the  escorts  of  the  commanding  officers, 
constituted  a  separate  corps,  and  moved  under  the  orders 
of  the  general-in-chief . 

The  artillery  was  attached  to  the  different  divisions, 
and  remained  so  until  the  close  of  the  war.  General 
William  T.  Sherman  commanded  the  whole  army ;  I 
had  command  of  the  14th  Corps ;  General  John  A. 
Logan,  the  15th ;  General  Frank  P.  Blair  commanded 
the  17th  Corps,  which  joined  the  army  about  the 
twentieth  of  June,  and  the  20th  Corps  was  commanded 
by  General  Joseph  Hooker. 

The  Army  of  the  Ohio  was  composed  of  a  single  corps, 
but  I  do  not  recollect  its  number.  On  May  5,  1864,  the 
14th  Corps  left  Ringgold,  Georgia,  where  it  was  con- 
centrated and  advanced  to  the  heights  which  overlooked 
Tunnell  Hill,  and  after  a  sharp  skirmish  drove  the 
enemy  into  Buzzard  Roost  Gap.  I  recollect  a  remark- 
able circumstance  which  took  place  while  we  were  on 
the  heights.  Lieutenant  John  E.  Shaw,  of  my  escort, 
saw  the  flash  of  a  gun,  and  dropped ;  the  solid  shot 
struck  a  tree  over  him,  but  would  have  gone  through 
him  had  he  not  seen  the  flash.  We  passed  through 


BATTLE  OF  PEACH  TREE  CREEK.  £03 

Tunuell  Hill  and  skirmished  with  the  enemy  in  front  of 
the  gap  for  a  day  or  two,  and  then  moved  south  to  Snake 
Creek  Gap,  and  pressing  through  it  we  moved  due  east 
by  the  compass  until  we  struck  the  Rebel  forces.  John- 
ston, aware  that  his  rear  was  threatened,  evacuated 
Dalton,  on  the  llth,  and  fell  back  to  Resaca  upon  the 
Costanaula  river.  We  fought  here  a  fierce  and  bloody 
battle,  in  which  Johnston's  division  took  a  distinguished 
part ;  and  when  Johnston,  the  Rebel  commander,  aban- 
doned Resaca  and  the  line  of  the  Costanaula  we  pursued 
in  the  direction  of  Calhoun  and  Kingston.  Davis,  of 
the  14th  Corps,  had  orders  to  proceed  to  our  right  and 
take  and  occupy  Rome,  which  he  did,  after  driving  out 
the  Rebel  forces  who  occupied  the  place  before  him. 

Between  Calhoun  and  Kingston,  as  I  now  remember 
it,  we  reached  one  of  the  most  beautiful  places  which  are 
found  in  that  part  of  Georgia.  The  house  was  a 
frame  building  of  large  extent,  surrounded  with  veran- 
das. Some  of  the  Rebel  rear  guard  took  possession  of 
the  house  and  fired  upon  us.  I  called  upon  Captain 
Dilger — the  "Leather  Breeches"  of  the  Army  of  the 
Cumberland — and  directed  him  to  put  a  few  shells  into 
it ;  he  did  so,  and  soon  the  building  was  in  flames.  The 
men  who  rushed  forward  to  sack  the  house  brought  out 
of  it  expensive  books,  bric-a-brac  and  choice  wines 
which  the  owner  had  not  removed  to  a  place  of  safety ; 
nothing  gave  me  greater  pain  than  the  destruction  of 
this  beautiful  home.  After  marching  a  short  distance, 
we  reached  one  of  the  streams  in  that  part  of  Georgia 
over  which  had  been  a  railroad  bridge,  which  the  Rebels 
destroyed,  but  still  held  its  site  with  much  tenacity.  It 
required  an  hour  or  more  to  drive  them  away,  but 
when  I  returned  to  the  north  side  of  the  creek  our  bridge 
party  had  the  timbers  ready  for  a  new  bridge.  I 
marched  afterwards  not  more  than  two  miles,  and  be- 
fore my  men  had  made  their  arrangements  to  go  into 
camp,  we  heard  the  whistle  of  the  engine,  and  twenty 
cars  loaded  with  supplies  were  with  us.  I  have  been 


204  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

told  that  Jefferson  Davis,  who  no  doubt  calculated  all 
the  chances,  said  at  a  dinner  party  given  in  Washington 
before  the  war,  that  history  afforded  no  example  of  the 
success  of  the  invasion  of  a  country  situated  as  the 
Southern  States  then  were  ;  he  spoke  of  the  sparseness 
of  the  population  of  the  Southern  States ;  the  scarcity 
of  the  supplies  for  an  army,  and  of  the  ease  with  which 
all  supplies  could  be  destroyed ;  but  he  overlooked  the 
railroads  and  their  enormous  capacity  for  transporta- 
tion. We  guarded  the  railroad  until  the  warehouses  at 
Chattanooga  were  filled,  and  then  only  took  care  of 
those  in  the  rear  of  the  enemy. 

After  the  fall  of  Atlanta,  the  shell  of  the  rebellion  was 
broken,  and  then  Sherman's  army  was  able  to  live  upon 
the  country  in  its  "march  to  the  sea."  The  14th 
Army  Corps,  which  was  the  center  of  the  army,  moved 
along  the  railroads.  It  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Re- 
saca,  and  was  ready  for  service  at  Kingston,  Georgia.  It 
moved  to  the  left  of  Kingston,  and  was  ready  for  battle 
when  the  enemy  made  some  demonstration. 

After  remaining  in  camp  near  Kingston  for  a  day  or 
two  the  corps  crossed  the  river  and  passed  Statesville, 
and  took  part  in  the  movement  to  the  left  of  the  enemy's 
position.  The  corps  appeared  in  front  of  Pine  Mountain, 
where  General  Polk  was  killed  by  the  gun  of  one  of  our 
batteries,  and  then  moved  to  the  left.  It  fought  the  bat- 
tle of  Picket's  Mill,  after  it  had  crossed  the  Etowah 
river,  and  afterwards  advanced  until  it  fronted  Kenesaw 
mountain.  This  mountain  covers  the  approaches  to  the 
town  of  Marietta,  and  delayed  the  army  for  several 
days. 

On  the  day  after  our  arrival  in  front  of  this  strong 
position,  General  Sherman  ordered  the  14th  and  15th 
Corps  to  carry  it  by  assault.  The  western  front  of  this 
mountain  was  so  steep  that  men  could  hardly  ascend 
it  with  their  accouterments.  I  .ordered  the  assault, 
which  was  conducted  by  able,  fighting  officers,  but  soon 


BATTLE  OF  PEACH  TREE  CREEK.  205 

discovered  that  it  was  impregnable,  and  I  ordered  my 
men  to  "lie  down." 

I  then  rode  to  where  General  Logan  was,  and  told  him 
that  the  mountain  could  not  be  carried.  He  said  that 
his  "corps  could  go  further  than  any  live  men."  Gen- 
eral Sherman  told  me  the  next  day  that  the  "Army  of 
Tennessee  had  gone  more  than  a  hundred  yards  further 
than  my  men  had  gone."  I  answered  him  by  saying 
that  I  had  "a  hundred  men  more  than  I  would  have  had 
if  I  had  gone  as  far  as  Logan  did  ;  that  we  had  all  failed, 
and  that  I  had  no  man  who  was  not  as  good  as  he  was, 
except  that  his  pay  was  less."  There  is  no  doubt,  how- 
ever, that  General  Sherman  thought  General  Thomas  was 
partial  to  the  14th  Corps,  which  he  had  so  long  com- 
manded. 

The  morning  before  the  assault  on  Kenesaw  (the  troops 
included  Barker's  brigade,  of  the  4th  Corps,  and 
McCook's,  of  the  14th),  I  had,  in  company  with 
"Johnny"  White,  an  orderly  who  usually  attended  me, 
reconnoitered  the  Rebel  position,  until  I  had  attracted 
their  fire,  and  reported  to  General  Sherman  that  this 
whole  army  could  not  carry  the  position  of  the  Rebels. 
He  repeated,  that  Joe  Johnston  must  not  consider  any 
part  of  his  line  safe,  and  ordered  the  assault. 

I  rode  with  the  assaulting  column  until  I  met  Colonel 
McCook  and  Colonel  Harmon,  the  first  desperately 
wounded,  and  the  latter  dead,  with  a  bullet  through  his 
heart,  and  I  knew  then,  as  I  had  told  General  Sherman 
before,  that  the  assault  upon  Kenesaw  Mountain  would 
not  be  successful. 

On  June  27,  1864,  Colonel  Dilworth  had  succeeded  to 
the  command  of  the  brigade,  upon  the  death  of  Colonel 
Harmon,  and  had  effected  lodgment  not  more  than  sixty 
feet  from  the  Rebel  works,  and  on  July  2d,  the  Rebels 
abandoned  their  works,  as  described  by  General  Sher- 
man, who,  in  giving  an  account  of  the  attack  on  Kene- 
saw, says  : 

"An  army,  to  be  efficient,  must  not  settle  down  to  a. 


206  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

simple  mode  of  offense,  but  must  be  prepared  to  execute 
any  plan  that  promises  success.  I  wanted,  therefore, 
for  the  moral  effect,  to  make  a  successful  assault  against 
the  enemy,  behind  his  breastworks,  and  resolved  to  at- 
tempt it  at  that  point  where  success  would  give  the  largest 
fruits  of  victory.  The  general  point  selected  was  the 
left  center,  because  if  I  could  thrust  a  strong  head  of 
column  through  that  point,  by  pushing  it  boldly  and 
rapidly  two  and  one-half  miles,  it  would  reach  the  rail- 
road below  Marietta,  cut  off  the  enemy's  line  and  cen- 
ter from  its  line  of  retreat,  and  then,  by  turning  on 
either  part  of  it,  could  be  overwhelmed  and  destroyed. 
Therefore,  on  June  24th,  I  ordered  that  an  assault 
should  be  made  at  two  points  south  of  Kenesaw,  on  the 
27th,  giving  three  days'  notice  for  preparation  and  re- 
connoissance,  one  to  be  made  near  Little  Kenesaw,  by 
General  McPherson's  troops,  and  the  other  about  a  mile 
further  south  by  General  Thomas's  troops.  The  hour 
was  fixed,  and  all  the  details  given  in  'Field  Orders  No. 
28,  of  June  24th.'  On  June  27th,  the  two  assaults  were 
made  at  the  time  and  in  the  manner  prescribed,  and 
both  failed,  costing  us  many  valuable  lives,  among  them 
those  of  General  Harker  and  General  McCook ;  Colonel 
Rice  and  others  badly  wounded. 

"Our  aggregate  loss  was  about  three  thousand,  while 
we  inflicted  comparatively  little  loss  to  the  enemy,  who 
lay  behind  his  well-formed  breastworks.  Failure  as  it 
was,  and  for  which  I  assumed  the  entire  responsibility,  I 
yet  claim  it  produced  good  fruits,  as  it  demonstrated  to 
General  Johnston  that  I  would  assault,  and  that  boldly. 
It  would  not  do  to  rest  long  under  the  influence  of  mis- 
take or  failure,  and,  accordingly,  General  Schofield  was 
working  strongly  on  the  enemy's  left.  .  .  .  General 
McPherson  commenced  his  movements  on  the  night  of 
July  2d,  and  the  effect  was  instantaneous.  The  next 
morning  Kenesaw  was  abandoned,  and  I  saw  our  skir- 
mishers appear  on  the  mountain  top.  General  Thomas's 
whole  line  was  there,  moved  forward  to  the  railroad  and 


BATTLE  OF  PEACH  TREE  CREEK.         207 

turned  south  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy  towards  the  Chat- 
tahoochee." 

On  our  advance  to  Marietta,  finding  the  streets  blocked 
by  Hooker's  corps,  I  determined  to  proceed  to  the  right 
and  find  a  road  to  the  ferry  on  the  Chattahooch.ee  river.  I 
went  and  found  a  road,  with  the  corps,  but,  with  a  single 
orderly,  I  proceeded  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  or  more  from 
the  road  that  led  north  and  south,  and  met  two  Rebel 
soldiers  with  muskets  in  their  hands.  We  drew  our 
pistols  and  rode  at  full  speed  toward  them,  and  ordered 
them  to  "throw  down  their  guns."  They  did  so,  and  I 
ordered  White  to  '  'break  their  muskets  and  to  send  them 
to  the  rear." 

They  were  probably  deserters,  and  had  no  particular 
objection  to  the  rations  of  the  Yankees.  With  the  corps 
I  proceeded  on  the  road  I  had  discovered  to  Smyrna  sta- 
tion, where  we  met  the  enemy  again,  and  succeeded  in 
driving  them  across  the  Chattahoochee  river. 

On  July  18,  1864,  I  learned  by  an  Atlanta  newspaper 
that  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston  had  been  relieved  of 
the  command  of  the  Rebel  armies  of  the  West  by  Gen- 
eral John  B.  Hood.  I  had  crossed  Dil worth's  brigade 
over  Peach  Tree  Creek,  which  enters  the  Chattahoochee 
at  no  great  distance  below  our  position,  and  had  found 
some  difficulty  in  supporting  him.  I  had  collected  bat- 
teries on  the  north  side  of  the  creek  to  cover  Dil  worth's 
crossing,  but  soon  discovered  that  the  shells  fired  by  the 
batteries  were  altogether  insufficient  protection  for  his 
men.  My  troops  were  attacked  soon  after  crossing  Peach 
Tree  Creek,  and  I  found  at  least  one-fourth  of  my  shells 
either  short  of  the  Rebel  lines  or  among  our  own  troops. 
I  spoke  to  Captain  Barnet,  who  commanded  one  of  our 
batteries,  and  he  said  it  was  "contract  ammunition." 
Many  of  the  shells  burst  at  the  mouth  of  the  piece,  and 
others  exploded  within  thirty  yards.  I  "damned"  the 
contractor  who  had  furnished  the  shells  ;  but  Dilworth 
effected  a  lodgment  on  the  south  side  of  the  creek,  and 
proceeded  to  fortify  his  position.  After  Dilworth  had 


208  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

crossed,  I  rode  back  and  met  Colonel  McKay,  quarter- 
master of  the  corps,  and,  after  he  had  inquired  the  news, 
I  told  him  that  Joe  Johnston  had  been  relieved  on  that 
day  by  Hood.  He  answered  :  "General,  you  '11  have  to 
fight ;  I  was  acquainted  with  Hood  at  San  Antonio,  and 
I  saw  him  bet  two  thousand  dollars  without  a  pair  in  his 
hand!"  R.  "W.  Johnson,  in  his  "Reminiscences,"  says 
it  was  "one  thousand"  that  McKay  told  me.  At  all 
events,  I  became  satisfied  that  Hood  was  a  desperate, 
adventurous  man,  and  in  the  command  of  the  army  he 
would  fight. 

It  was  near  sundown  when  I  met  McKay,  and  I  or- 
dered the  troops  to  cross  the  creek,  build  bridges  for  the 
artillery,  and  fortify  themselves.  I  do  not  say  that  Mc- 
Kay's suggestions  inspired  me  with  the  conviction  that 
Hood  was  a  reckless  man,  but  I  concluded  that  the 
Rebel  forces  would  be  turned  loose  on  my  single  bri- 
gade. 

An  amusing  circumstance  occurred  during  the  night. 
It  was  not  far  from  midnight,  when  a  company  was  en- 
gaged in  fatigue  duty,  building  an  artillery  bridge  across 
Peach  Tree  Creek,  that  I  came  along  with  but  one  or- 
derly, and  heard  the  men  who  were  at  work  discussing 
me.  "There  he  is,"  said  one,  "asleep  on  his  cot;  you 
can  hear  him  snore  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile."  After 
some  other  conversation,  equally  complimentary,  one  of 
them  said  :  "Old  Abe  will  have  to  make  another  general 
after  the  next  battle."  Recollecting  that  listeners  never 
heard  anything  good  of  themselves,  I  thought  the  time 
had  come  to  speak,  and  said:  "Hurrah,  boys,  you'll 
need  these  guns  over  the  creek  before  noon  to-morrow  ! ' ' 
The  next  day  the  same  company  shouted  for  me  as  I 
rode  along  the  lines.  I  told  them  they  did  not  know  all 
that  I  did. 

A  few  days  before  we  crossed  the  Chattahoochee,  and 
while  skirmishing  actively,  I  had  seen  men  of  this  regi- 
ment as  observant  of  the  reports  of  the  "firing  line,"  to 
use  a  modern  expression,  as  any  of  the  officers  could  be. 


BATTLE  OF  PEACH  TREE  CREEK.         209 

They  were  engaged  in  the  ordinary  morning  avocations, 
their  guns  stacked  as  usual,  but  it  was  manifest  that 
they  were  keenly  alive  to  the  situation.  They  would 
approach  the  stacks,  stand  a  moment,  notice  the  volume 
of  the  reports,  and  go  back  satisfied  that  our  pickets 
were  holding  their  own,  and  that  their  assistance  was 
not  necessary.  I  made  up  my  mind  that  most  of  them 
were  fitted  to  command  regiments. 

The  next  day  followed  the  battle  of  Peach  Tree  Creek. 
I  heard  on  my  right  a  noisy  demonstration,  which  I 
knew  was  nothing  more  than  a  demonstration,  and  I 
rode  at  full  speed  to  my  left,  and  found  that  Hood  had 
attacked  that  point,  broken  the  lines  of  our  forces  and 
was  repulsed  by  King's  brigade  which  covered  John- 
son's extreme  left  wing,  which  was  in  the  air.  The 
enemy  were  repulsed  by  Baird's  division  and  Dilger's 
battery,  which  enfiladed  the  Rebel  attack.  I  lost  but 
few  men. 

On  July  21st,  we  steadily  pressed  forward  along  our 
whole  line,  developing  the  enemy  in  his  intrenchments, 
extending  from  a  point  about  a  mile  south  of  the  Atlanta 
Railroad  around  the  north  side  of  the  city  to  the  Chat- 
tanooga Railroad.  We  continued  our  operations  before 
Atlanta  until  August  4th,  when  I  received  an  order 
from  General  Thomas  to  support  General  Schofield's 
corps  (23d) ,  and  made  one  movement  to  the  west  of 
Atlanta,  where  General  Baird  captured  the  rifle-pits  of 
the  enemy  and  a  good  many  prisoners. 

On  August  4,  1864,  I  addressed  the  following  note  to 
General  Thomas : 

"I  have  no  orders  to-day  from  any  quarter.  The  or- 
ders of  the  day  imply  cooperation  with  General  Schofield. 
General  Schofield  has  shown  me  a  copy. 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER,  Major-General." 

On  the  same  day,  I  addressed  another  note  to  General 
Thomas  : 
14 


210  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"MAJOR-GENERAL  GEORGE  H.  THOMAS,  Army  of  the 
Cumberland — The  orders  seem  to  be  intended  to  give 
General  Schofield  control  over  my  troops.  Shall  I  turn 
them  over  to  him. 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER,  Major-General" 

On  the  same  day,  I  received  the  following  : 

"HEADQUARTERS  MILITARY  Div.  OF  THE  Miss., 
"!N  THE  FIELD  NEAR  ATLANTA,  GA.,  Aug.  4, 1864. 
"GENERAL  PALMER — I  was  under  the  impression  that 
General  Schofield  ranked  you.     I  had  not  thought  of  the 
relative  rank.     Cooperate  heartily  and  the  same  result 
will  be  obtained.     I  will  see  you  this   afternoon.     I  as- 
sure you  that  I  have  no  disposition  to  qualify  your  true 
rank.  (Signed,)  "W.  T.  SHERMAN, 

* '  Major-  General  Com  manding . ' ' 

After  this  letter,  the  following  correspondence  took 
place : 

"HEADQUARTERS  MTH  ARMY  CORPS, 

"August  4,  1864. 

"MAJOR-GENERAL  SHERMAN — I  am  General  Schofield 's 
senior.     We  may  cooperate,  but  I  respectfully  decline 
to  report  to  or  take  orders  from  him. 
"Respectfully, 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER,  Major-General.'11 

"HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OP  OHIO, 
"BEFORE  ATLANTA,  GA.,  Aug.  4,  3  p.  M.,  1864.. 
"MAJ.-GEN.  JOHN  M.  PALMER,  Commanding  14th  A.  C. : 

"GENERAL — I  have  just  received  your  communication 
of  11  A.  M.  to-day,  and  beg  leave  to  correct  your  im- 
pression that  you  are  my  senior,  which  you  give  as  your 
reason  for  refusing  to  obey  my  orders,  and  that  of  Gen- 
eral Sherman  directing  you  to  report  to  me.  You  are 
my  junior  for  two  reasons :  First,  because  I  have  the 
senior  commission ;  and  second,  because  I  am,  by  the 
president's  order,  commander  of  a  separate  army.  I 


BATTLE  OF  PEACH  TREE  CREEK.         211 

regret  extremely  that  any  misunderstanding  exists  on 
this  subject. 

"Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"J.  M.  SCHOFIELD,  Major-General  Commanding. 

"HEADQUARTERS  MILITARY  Div.  OP  THE  Miss., 
"!N  FIELD  NEAR  ATLANTA,  GA.,  Aug.  4-,  1864,  10:46  P.  M. 
"GENERAL  PALMER — From  the  statements  made  by 
yourself  and  General  Schofield  to-day,  my  decision  is, 
that  he  ranks  you  as  major-general,  being  of  same  date 
of  commission  by  previous  rank  as  brigadier-general. 
The  movements  for  to-morrow  are  so  important  that  the 
orders  of  the  superior  on  that  flank  must  be  regarded  as 
military  orders,  and  not  in  the  nature  of  cooperation.  I 
did  hope  that  there  was  no  necessity  of  making  the  de- 
cision, but  it  is  better  for  all  parties  interested  that  no 
question  of  rank  should  occur  during  active  battle.  The 
Sandtown  road  and  railroad  if  possible  must  be  gained 
to-morrow  if  it  costs  half  your  command.  I  regard  the 
loss  of  time  this  afternoon  as  equal  to  the  loss  of  two 
thousand  men.  (Signed,)  W.  T.  SHERMAN, 

' ' Major-  General  Commanding . ' ' 

"HEADQUARTERS  14TH  A.  C.,  DPT.  OF  THE  CUMBERLAND, 
"!N  THE  FIELD,  Aug.  -£,  1864,  11:55  p.  M. 

MAJOR-GENERAL  W.  T.  SHERMAN — Dispatch  of  10:45 
of  this  P.  M.  this  moment  received.  I  am  unable  to 
acquiesce  in  the  correctness  of  the  decision  that  Major- 
General  Schofield  legally  ranks  me.  I  do  not  argue  the 
question  but  repeat  the  facts.  General  Schofield  was 
appointed  brigadier-general  on  the  21st  of  November, 
1861,  and  I  was  appointed  to  the  same  on  the  20th  De- 
cember of  the  same  year. 

"At  the  session  of  congress,  1862-3,  General  Schofield 
and  myself  were  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major-general 
of  volunteers ;  my  appointment  was  confirmed  by  the 
senate  and  his  expired  by  constitutional  limitation,  not 
having  been  confirmed  by  the  senate ;  his  name  there- 


212  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

fore  does  not  appear  in  the  list  of  major-generals  in  the 
Army  Eegister  of  April  1,  1863.  He  was  reappointed 
by  the  president  and  confirmed  since  the  commencement 
of  the  present  campaign.  His  commission  must  be  a 
year  in  date  junior  to  my  own,  though  he  is  said  to  take 
rank  from  the  29th  November,  1862. 

"The  question  of  rank  has  arisen  by  accident,  and  I 
agree  with  you  that  it  is  better  for  the  interest  of  all 
parties  that  it  should  be  decided,  but  I  cannot  acquiesce 
in  the  correctness  of  the  decision  made.  I  respectfully 
ask,  therefore,  that  some  officer  be  designated  to  whom 
I  may  turn  over  the  command  of  the  14th  Army  Corps. 

"I  think  I  need  not  assure  you  that  I  am  not  influenced 
by  any  desire  to  command  him,  nor  that  if  I  deem  it 
consistent  with  my  self  respect  to  waive  the  question 
or  my  views  of  our  relative  rank,  I  would  obey  his 
orders  as  cheerfully  as  I  would  those  of  any  gentleman 
connected  with  the  army. 

"I  am  very  respectfully, 

"JoHN  M.  PALMER,  Major-General." 

"HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OP  THE  OHIO, 

"BEFORE  ATLANTA,  GA.,  Aug.  4,  1864.. 
BRIG.-GEN.  R.  W.  JOHNSON,  Commanding  14-ih  A.  C. 

GENERAL — Major-General  Schofield  directs  me  to  for- 
ward you  the  inclosed  S.  F.  O.  No.  71  c.  s.  from  these 
headquarters,  for  to-morrow's  movements  of  the  14th 
and  23d  Army  Corps.  The  order  is  sent  to  you  as  the 
senior  and  commanding  general  of  the  14th  Army  Corps, 
as  Major-General  Palmer  still  adheres  to  the  views  he 
expressed  yesterday. 

"In  order  to  prevent  any  delay  Generals  Baird  and 
Morgan  have  been  furnished  with  copies  of  the  inclosed 
orders  direct  from  these  headquarters. 

"Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"J.  A.  CAMPBELL,  Major  and  A.  A.  Cr." 


BATTLE  OF  PEACH  TREE  CREEK.         213 

"HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OF  THE  OHIO, 

"9  :  20  P.  M.,  August  4,  1864.. 

"MAJOR-GENERAL  SHERMAN — I  have  your  dispatch 
directing  me  to  order  certain  movements  by  General 
Palmer's  corps.  I  did  not  understand  that  the  ques- 
tion of  rank  raised  by  General  Palmer  was  settled.  In 
his  reply  to  my  orders  for  to-day's  movements  and  your 
order  to  report  to  me,  he  said,  "I  will  not  obey  either 
General  Sherman's  or  your's."  The  reason  being  his 
assumed  seniority.  In  subsequent  conversation  he  still 
maintained  the  same  ground,  and  I  did  not  understand 
him  to  yield  or  you  to  decide  the  question  after  you  ar- 
rived, but  to  waive  it  with  the  remark  that  no  such 
question  could  arise  between  such  men,  and  that  we 
could  cooperate  harmoniously.  I  feel  confident  that 
General  Palmer  understands  the  question  as  having  been 
so  waived.  Please  inform  me  if  you  gave  General 
Palmer  distinctly  to  understand  that  he  is  to  obey  my 
orders.  Please  have  it  understood  before  I  send  him 
orders  for  to-morrow.  It  is  a  very  delicate  and  un- 
pleasant matter  for  me  to  correspond  with  him  about. 
J.  M.  SCHOPIELD,  Major-General." 

"HEADQUARTERS  MIL.  Div.  OF  THE  Miss., 
'!N  THE  FIELD  NEAR  ATLANTA,  GA.,  Aug,  4-,  1864. 
"GENERAL  THOMAS — Nothing  was  done  on  the  right. 
General  Palmer's  troops  seemed  immovable,  but  I  have 
ordered  operations  to  be  resumed  in  the  morning  and  to 
be  continued  until  we  get  possession  of  the  Sandtown 
road .       W .  T .  SHERMAN  ,  Major- General  Commanding . ' ' 

"HEADQUARTERS  MIL.  Div.  OF  THE  Miss., 
"!N  THE  FIELD  NEAR  ATLANTA,  GA.,  Aug.  4,  186^. 
GENERAL  SCHOFIELD — That  is  very  well  as  to  your 
left.     But  I  want  to  assume  the  offensive  on  the  right, 
and  wish  you  to  order  General  Palmer  to  advance  his 
left  division  till  he  reaches  the  Sandtown  road,  and  its 
right  supported  by  General  Davis' s  division.     General 


214  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Johnson's  division  should  reach  the  Sandtown  road 
more  to  the  right  and  close  to  the  left  on  General  Davis. 
The  connection  between  you  and  General  Howard  is  not 
important.  Slash  down  the  timber  in  the  valley  of 
Utoy,  and  a  single  battery  with  a  regiment  of  skirmishers 
will  hold  a  mile  against  the  whole  of  Hood's  army.  I 
want  all  of  your  army  and  General  Palmer's  corps  to 
turn  the  enemy's  left,  and  the  sooner  it  is  done  the 
better.  I  wish  you  to  make  written  orders  so  that  Gen- 
eral Palmer  and  Baird  cannot  mistake  them.  Their 
delay  this  afternoon  was  unpardonable.  If  the  enemy 
ever  gets  a  column  through  our  lines,  we  will  let  go  our 
breastworks  and  turn  on  his  flanks,  and  therefore  I 
don't  care  about  our  line  being  continuous  and  uni- 
form. If  they  sally  it  will  be  quick  and  by  some  defined 
road.  W.  T.  SHERMAN,  Major-General  Commanding." 

"HEADQUARTERS  DEP'T  OP  THE  CUMBERLAND, 

"August  4,  1864.. 

"MAJOR-GENERAL  SHERMAN — I  am  surprised  to  receive 
such  a  report  of  the  14th  Corps,  for  it  has  always  been 
prompt  in  executing  any  work  given  to  it  heretofore. 
If  General  Palmer  is  an  obstacle  to  its  efficiency  I  would 
let  him  go.  GEO.  H.  THOMAS,  Major-General.'" 

"HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OF  THE  OHIO, 
"NEAR  ATLANTA,  GA.,  Aug.  5,  7  :  25  A.  M.,  1861,.. 
"MAJ.-GEN.  W.  T.  SHERMAN,  Com'd'g  Mil.  Div.  of  the  Miss. 
GENERAL — General  Palmer  has  this  moment  informed 
me  of  your  refusal  to  relieve  him,  and  his  final  decision 
to  go  on  the  field  and  carry  out  my  orders.  He  is  now 
starting.  I  have  been  trying  nearly  all  night  to  get 
things  in  working  shape,  but  with  very  little  progress. 
I  hope  now  to  get  started.  Johnson  reached  the  Sand- 
town  road  last  night  and  Morgan's  skirmishers  are  on 
it  this  morning.  He  reports  a  strong  resistance.  I  will 
do  all  in  my  power  to  press  the  attack. 


BATTLE  OF  PEACH  TREE  CREEK.         215 

Davis   is   not   here,  and  if  he  were  Johnson   is   his 
senior.         Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  M.  SCHOFIELD,  Major-General  Commanding.'1 

"HEADQUARTERS  OP  THE  OHIO, 
"FIELD,  11  A.  M.,  August  5,  1864.. 
"MAJOR-GENERAL  SHERMAN — Palmer  is  developing 
his  troops  along  the  enemy's  line,  which  is  found  to  be 
very  strong.  As  soon  as  Palmer  gets  two  divisions  in 
position,  Johnson  will  make  a  rapid  detour  to  the  right 
and  try  to  strike  the  enemy  in  the  flank  or  a  point  of 
his  line  which  is  not  held  in  force.  Cox  will  take  John- 
son's place  as  reserve  on  the  right,  and  if  Johnson  fails, 
Cox  will  assault  immediately.  This  movement  is  to  be 
made  at  two  o'clock.  I  think  we  are  progressing  pretty 
well,  though  slowly,  and  have  captured  about  two  hun- 
dred prisoners.  General  Howard  asks  me  to  inform 
you  that  his  signal  officer  reports  that  a  large  column 
of  cavalry  is  passing  into  Atlanta  from  the  enemy's  left, 
probably  one  brigade. 

"J.  M.  SCHOFIELD,  Major-General." 

"HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OF  THE  OHIO, 
"!N  THE  FIELD,  GEORGIA,  August  5,  1864. 
"MAJOR-GENERAL  J.  M.  PALMER,  Com'g  14th  A.  C. — 
Please  permit  me  to  assure  you  that  I  have  not  had  the 
slightest  apprehension  as  to  your  sincere  intention  to 
carry  out  General  Sherman's  orders.  My  request  was 
based  upon  the  information  that  General  Baird  had  not 
been  notified  of  the  arrangement  for  the  day,  and  my 
apprehension  that  you  might  not  think  to  notify  him. 
I  simply  desire  to  avoid  misapprehension  and  conse- 
quent mistakes. 

"Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"J.  M.  SCHOFIELD,  Major-General  Commanding.'11 


216  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"HEADQUARTERS  MIL.  Div.  OP  THE  Miss., 
"!N  THE  FIELD  NEAR  ATLANTA,  GA.,  Aug.  5ih. 

"GENERAL  THOMAS — Colonel  Warner,  one  of  my  in- 
spector-generals, who  was  on  the  right  all  day,  reports 
nothing  done  or  would  be  done. 

"Will  General  Johnson  be  any  better  than  General 
Palmer?  I  would  prefer  to  move  a  rock  than  to  move 
that  corps.  On  the  defensive,  it  would  be  splendid ; 
but  for  offensive,  it  is  of  no  use.  It  must  have  a  head 
that  will  give  it  life  and  impulse.  I  was  ashamed  yes- 
terday and  kept  away  on  purpose  to-day  to  see  if  orders 
would  not  move  it,  but  if  an  enemy  can  be  seen  by  a 
spy-glass,  the  whole  corps  is  halted  and  intrenched  for 
a  siege.  Unless  it  will  attack,  I  must  relieve  it  in  or- 
ders and  state  the  reason.  I  will  call  for  official  reports 
and  act  to-night.  Is  General  Johnson  capable  of  hand- 
ling the  corps  until  we  can  have  General  Davis  com- 
missioned and  ordered  to  the  command. 

"  (Signed,)     W.  T.  SHERMAN,  Maj.-Gen.  Comd'g." 

"HEADQUARTERS  DEPT.  OF  THE  CUMBERLAND, 

"Augusts,  1864.. 

"MAJOR-GENERAL  SHERMAN — I  am  surprised  to  re- 
ceive such  a  report  of  the  14th  Corps,  for  it  has  always 
been  prompt  in  executing  the  work  given  to  it  hereto- 
fore. If  General  Palmer  is  an  obstacle  to  its  efficiency, 
I  would  let  him  go.  I  had  the  4th  and  20th  Corps 
demonstrate  strongly  on  the  enemy's  line  from  12  M. 
until  night.  They  found  the  intrenchments  heavily 
manned.  I  will  have  the  skirmishers  feel  forward  again 
to-night  to  see  if  the  enemy  have  left.  The  4th  and 
20th  Corps  now  occupy  the  whole  line  held  by  the  23d, 
4th,  20th  and  14th  Corps  before  the  movement  on  the 
right  commenced,  consequently  they  are  in  a  single  line, 
and  it  will  be  impossible  to  form  an  assaulting  column. 
I  send  Whipple  to  the  right  to-day.  He  has  just  re- 
turned, and  informs  me  that  all  that  was  done  to-day 
on  the  right  was  done  by  Baird's  division,  which  ad- 


BATTLE  OF  PEACH  TREE  CREEK.  217 

vanced  in  obedience  to  Schofield's  orders,  but,  not  being 
supported  either  on  the  right  or  left,  General  Baird  fell 
back  to  his  former  position  after  having  driven  the  enemy 
from  two  lines  of  rifle-pits  and  capturing  one  hundred 
and  sixty  prisoners,  losing  about  one  hundred  men 
himself. 

"GEO.  H.  THOMAS,  Major-Gen.  U.  S.  V.  Comd'g." 

"HEADQUARTERS  MILITARY  Div.  OF  THE  Miss., 
"!N  THE  FIELD  NEAR  ATLANTA,  GA.,  Aug.  5,  1864-. 
"GENERAL  THOMAS — General  Schofield  telegraphs: 
I  am  compelled  to  acknowledge  that  I  have  totally  failed 
to  make  any  aggressive  movement  with  the  14th  Corps. 
The  efforts  yesterday  and  to-day  on  this  flank  have  been 
worse  than  mere  failures.  I  have  ordered  General 
Johnson  to  relieve  General  Haskell  this  evening,  and 
propose  to  take  my  own  troops  to  the  right  and  try  and 
recover  what  has  been  lost  by  two  days'  delay.  The 
force  may  very  likely  be  too  small.  From  what  I  saw 
myself  there  was  a  manifest  determination  not  to  move 
towards  the  enemy.  General  Davis's  division  is  a  mile 
further  west  than  when  it  started.  I  see  no  help  for  it 
but  to  lose  the  services  of  the  corps  and  let  General 
Schofield  feel  for  the  enemy  eastward,  whilst  the  14th 
entrenches  against  a  squad  of  cavalry  that  may  be  on  the 
flank.  Colonel  Warner  of  my  staff  rode  out  half  a  mile 
in  front  of  the  extreme  front  and  saw  no  sign  of  an 
enemy.  I  will  have  General  Palmer  report  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  if  he  wishes  to  go — it  is  best  he  should. 
"(Signed,)  W.  T.  SHERMAN,  Major-General  Com'dg." 

"HEADQUARTERS  14TH  A.  C.,  DPT.  of  THE  CUMBERLAND, 

"!N  THE  FIELD,  Aug.  5,  1864.. 

"GENERAL — I  am  very  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  your 
expressions  of  kindness,  but  regret  exceedingly  that  you 
decline  to  accede  to  my  request  to  be  relieved.  I  have 
joined  General  Schofield  with  a  larger  force  than  his 
own.  I  have  seen  much  more  service  in  the  face  of  the 


218  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

enemy ;  I  hold  a  commission  much  older  in  fact, 
whatever  may  be  the  form,  and  this  question  of  rank, 
raised  not  by  me,  is  so  decided  that  I  lose  all  practical 
control  over  my  corps,  that  too  at  a  time  of  great  prob- 
able difficulty.  As  you  have  declined  to  relieve  me,  I 
go  of  course  to  the  field,  and  will  do  what  I  can  to  give 
success  to  the  operations  of  the  day,  but  I  urge  that  you 
will  reconsider  your  refusal  to  relieve  me,  and  permit 
me  at  the  close  of  the  day  to  turn  this  command  over  to 
Brigadier-General  Johnson,  who  is  the  senior  brigadier- 
general  in  the  corps.  I  am,  very  respectfully, 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER,  Major-General  Commanding. 
" MAJOR-GENERAL  W.  T.  SHERMAN,  Comd'g.,  etc. 

"HEADQUARTERS  MILITARY  Div.  OP  THE  Miss. 
"!N  THE  FIELD  NEAR  ATLANTA,  GA.,  Aug.  5,  1864. 

"GENERAL  PALMER — I  would  like  to  have  you  come 
and  see  me  as  early  in  the  morning  as  convenient.  If 
you  think  of  resigning,  it  is  probably  better  it  should  be 
now,  as  I  fear  your  intention  lessens  your  interest  in  our 
operations.  Should  you  agree  with  me  in  this,  turn  over 
the  command  to  General  Johnson,  and  then  you  can  as- 
sign as  a  reason  anything  you  prefer.  I  would  suggest 
that  you  put  it  on  the  ground  of  a  prior  resolve  as  soon 
as  the  campaign  was  over,  and  it  having  settled  down 
into  a  quasi  siege,  you  request  now  to  be  relieved  and  to 
be  permitted  to  go  to  Illinois,  or  if  you  prefer  it,  the 
reason  that  you  considered  your  rank  superior  to  Gen- 
eral Schofield's. 

"To  be  honest,  I  must  say  that  the  operations  on  that 
flank  yesterday  and  to-day  have  not  been  satisfactory, 
yet  I  will  not  say  there  has  been  want  of  energy  or 
skill,  but  events  have  not  kept  pace  with  my  desires. 
"(Signed,)    W.  T.  SHERMAN,  Major-General  Comd'g." 


BATTLE  OF  PEACH  TREE  CREEK.         219 

"HEADQUARTERS  OF  THE  MTH  ARMY  CORPS, 
"DEPARTMENT  OP  THE  CUMBERLAND,  10  :  05  P.  M., 

"BEFORE  ATLANTA,  GA.,  August  5,  186$.. 

"GEN.  W.  T.  SHERMAN,  Major-General  Commanding — 
I  confess  my  surprise  at  the  contents  of  your  telegraphic 
note  this  moment  received. 

"Waiving  any  statement  of  what  were  my  purposes 
and  intentions  in  respect  to  quitting  the  service,  I  will 
frankly  say  that,  if  I  were  in  your  place  at  the  head  of 
an  army,  I  would  require  of  my  subordinates  the  faith- 
ful and  energetic  performance  of  their  respective  duties, 
and,  if  my  plans  failed  of  execution,  I  would  ascertain 
the  cause  and  punish  the  delinquent  rigorously,  as  no 
man  is  to  be  regarded  when  contrasted  with  the  great 
cause  of  the  country. 

"I  am  not  surprised  that  you  are  dissatisfied  with  the 
operations  of  the  army  on  this  flank  on  yesterday  and 
to-day,  for  I  am  also  dissatisfied,  and  think  much  more 
ought  to  have  been  done,  and  readily  confess  myself  in 
some  measures  responsible. 

"Still,  I  do  earnestly  protest  against  your  inference  of 
want  of  interest  in  our  operations.  On  yesterday  you 
were  present,  and  I  will  not  speak  of  what  I  said  or  did. 
To-day  I  exerted  myself  more,  I  think,  than  any  officer 
on  the  field,  to  ca*rry  out  General  Schofield's  orders,  until 
the  afternoon,  near  night,  I  found,  aside  from  Baird's 
handsome  operations  in  the  forenoon,  nothing  would  be 
accomplished. 

"I  am  to  blame,  however,  in  this,  that  I  have  not  done 
as  you  obviously  intend  doing  in  my  case — held  some 
one  responsible  for  the  failures.  I  think  I  could  select 
the  proper  objects  of  responsibility  more  accurately  than 
you  have  done  in  selecting  me.  I  am  so  well  convinced 
that  this  campaign  has  been  lengthened  out  by  the  neg- 
ligence and  inattention  of  officers,  and  will  be  hereafter 
lengthened  and  drawn  out  from  the  same  cause,  and  I 
accept  your  intimation  to  me,  not  as  offensive  (though, 
I  think  unjust) ,  but  as  a  sign  of  a  purpose  on  your  part 


220  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

in  future  to  inquire  into  the  causes  of  our  almost  daily 
failures  to  meet  your  avowed  expectations,  and,  when 
the  cause  is  discovered,  to  apply  the  correction. 

"If  you  will  do  this  fairly,  without  favor  or  affection, 
I  will  venture  my  life  that  you  will  be  astonished  at  the 
result. 

"I  will  accept  your  offer  to  relieve  me,  not  upon  the 
ground  that  your  suspicion  of  a  want  of  interest  is  well 
founded,  nor  that  I  am  in  any  way,  other  than  the  man- 
ner already  admitted,  responsible  to  the  country  for  this 
campaign  ;  every  subordinate  officer  employed  ought, 
upon  the  first  intimation  from  you  of  a  want  of  confi- 
dence, step  out  of  the  way  promptly,  and  feel  that  he  is 
serving  the  country  in  doing  so. 

"Pardon  this  long  letter.  I  will  call  upon  you  to- 
morrow morning,  and  present  a  formal  application  to  be 
relieved.  Respectfully, 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER,  Major- General." 

"HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  CUMBERLAND, 

"NEAR  ATLANTA,  GA.,  August  6,  1864. 
"SPECIAL  FIELD  ORDERS,  No.  215  (Extract).     .     .     . 

"III.  At  his  own  request,  Major-General  J.  M.  Palmer 
is  relieved  from  the  command  of  the  14th  Army  Corps, 
on  duty  in  the  department  of  the  Cumberland,  and  will 
proceed  to  Carlinville,  Illinois,  whence  he  will  report 
by  letter  to  the  adjutant-general  U.  S.  A.,  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C. 

"The  officers  composing  the  general's  personal  staff 
are  also  relieved  from  duty,  that  they  may  accompany 
him. 

"The  quartermaster's  department  will  furnish  the 
necessary  transportation  for  the  general,  his  staff  and  the 
authorized  number  of  servants  and  horses.  .  .  . 

"By  command  of  Major-General  Thomas. 

"WM.  D.  WHIPPLE,  A.  A.  (?." 

I  had  waived  all  question  of  rank  with  General  Scho- 


BATTLE  OF  PEACH  TREE  CREEK.         221 

field,  and  submitted  to  his  order.  General  Sherman 
had  said  that  cooperation  was  all  that  was  necessary,  and 
I  knew  enough  to  know  that  a  supporting  force  must 
necessarily  move  under  the  orders  of  the  force  to  be  sup- 
ported. I  had  disclaimed  all  desire  to  command  General 
Schofield's  troops.  We  had  by  the  aid  of  the  14th 
Army  Corps  accomplished  all  that  was  expected  of  us, 
and  when  the  dispatch  of  10  :45  was  received,  I  replied 
that  "I  do  not  argue  the  question,  but  repeat  the  facts  : l 
General  Schofield  was  appointed  brigadier-general  on 
November  21,  1861,  and  I  was  appointed  to  the  same  on 
December  20th  of  the  same  year.  At  the  session  of  con- 
gress, 1862-3,  General  Schofield  and  myself  were  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  major-general  of  volunteers.  My 
appointment  was  confirmed  by  the  senate,  and  his  ex- 
pired by  constitutional  limitation,  not  having  been  con- 
firmed by  the  senate.  He  was  reappointed  by  the  presi- 
dent, and  confirmed  since  the  present  campaign.  .  .  . 
The  question  of  rank  has  arisen  by  accident,  and  I 
agree  with  you  that  it  is  better  for  all  parties  that  it 
should  be  decided."  I  had  been  a  major-general  of  vol- 
unteers ever  since  November  29,  1863,  and  even  though 
General  Schofield  was  confirmed  at  a  later  date,  he  could 
not  take  rank  over  those  who  were  confirmed  by  the  sen- 
ate. It  was  the  idea  of  the  regular  army  men  that  they 
ranked  all  volunteer  officers. 

General  W.  D.  Whipple  says  that  I  "kept  my  men  at 
work." 

After  General  Sherman  wrote  to  me  that  I  could  not 
"disregard  the  friendly  advice  of  two  such  men  as  Gen- 
eral Thomas  and  myself,"  I  wrote  to  General  Sherman 
that,  "pending  active  operations,  I  request  that  my  ap- 
plication to  be  relieved  be  regarded  as  withdrawn,"  but 
when  I  received  General  Sherman's  note  suggesting  ex- 
cuses for  my  resignation,  I  wrote  the  letter  of  10  :45, 
August  5,  1864,  which  ended  my  connection  with  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland. 


222  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Remained  in  Illinois  until  February — Letter  to  Mr.  Lincoln — His  re- 
ply— Entered  again  upon  the  practice  of  law — Tried  for  bringing 
a  negro  slave  into  the  state — Visited  Washington  for  Governor 
Oglesby — Result  of  my  mission — Assigned  to  the  command  of  the 
Department  of  Kentucky — Conversation  with  Mr.  Lincoln — As- 
sumed command  of  the  department — Address  to  the  legislature  of 
Kentucky — Correspondence — Orders. 

When  relieved  from  the  command  of  the  14th  Army 
Corps,  I  returned  to  my  home  in  Carlinville,  Illinois.  I 
had  been  indicted  by  the  grand  jury  of  Macoupin  county 
for  "bringing  a  negro  slave,  Martin  Taylor,"  into  the 
State  of  Missouri.  The  indictment,  which  was  found 
at  the  December  term,  1862,  after  many  continuances, 
had  been  stricken  from  the  docket,  "with  leave  to  re- 
instate," and  soon  after  my  return,  I  determined  that 
it  should  be  tried,  and  gave  notice  to  the  state's  attorney 
of  the  Eighteenth  Judicial  District  that  I  was  within 
reach  of  the  process  of  the  Macoupin  Circuit  Court,  and 
would  be  so  until  the  next  term  of  said  court,  and  re- 
quested that  he  would  order  the  indictment  and  the  cause 
to  be  reinstated,  that  it  might  be  made  ready  for  trial 
at  the  next  term .  I  gave  him  further  notice  that  should 
he  fail  to  do  so,  I  would  appear  on  the  first  day  of  that 
term  and  move  that  said  indictment  be  reinstated  and 
set  for  trial.  This  notice  was  given  to  the  state's  at- 
torney on  September  12,  1864,  and  the  indictment  was 
reinstated  and  set  for  trial.  December  17,  1864.  It  is 
curious  now  to  notice  the  names  of  the  jurors  who  were 
selected  and  sworn  to  try  the  case.  •  They  were  :  S.  M. 
Brown,  B.  A.  Holbrook,  Wm.  H.  Van  Arsdale,  C.  W. 
Wayne,  Wm.  H.  Richardson,  Elmore  Johnson,  Wm.  R. 
Parkman,  Milton  Moore,  H.  C.  Anderson,  Wm.  S.  Bond, 
W.  G.  Rice,  and  Daniel  Barnes.  Most  of  them  are  dead, 
as  is  the  foreman  of  the  grand  jury,  Mr.  Isham  C. 


IN  COMMAND  OF  DEPARTMENT  OF  KENTUCKY.      £23 

Peebles,  which  "found"  the  bill.  My  brother  lawyers 
all  offered  to  aid  me  in  my  defense,  but  I  told  them 
that  I  would  take  liberties  with  the  jury  that  no  other 
lawyer  could  take,  and  I  only  asked  the  assistance  of 
Samuel  Pittman,  Esq.,  who  had  been  my  partner  before 
the  war. 

In  the  statement  of  the  case,  I  told  the  jury  that 
whether  Martin  Taylor  was  a  slave  or  not,  I  did  not  know, 
but  that  he  did ;  but,  unfortunately,  we  had  a  statute 
that  prohibited  a  negro  from  testifying  against  a  white 
person.  I  told  them  that  Martin  Taylor  was  in  town, 
was  an  honest  man,  and  would  tell  the  truth,  and  that 
such  a  law  should  be  repealed.  And  I  told  the  jury 
further,  that  I  would  submit  a  petition  to  them  which 
was  substantially  as  follows:  "Whereas,  we  were  im- 
paneled as  a  jury  to  try  the  case  of  the  People  of  the 
State  of  Illinois  against  John  M.  Palmer,  charged  with 
bringing  into  the  state  a  negro  slave,  by  name,  Martin 
Taylor,  and  we  were  told  that  said  Taylor  is  in  the  town 
of  Carlinville,  is  an  honest  man  and  worthy  of  belief, 
but  that  he  is  a  negro,  and  is  not  allowed  under  the  law 
to  testify  against  a  white  person  ;  we  therefore  pray  the 
general  assembly  to  repeal  the  law  which  prohibits  ne- 
groes from  testifying  against  white  persons."  I  proved 
in  addition  that  I  had  come  home  from  the  army  very 
sick,  and  that  Taylor,  with  others,  had  brought  me  into 
the  state.  Five  of  the  jury  signed  the  petition,  and  the 
whole  jury  found  me  "not  guilty."  The  judge,  Hon. 
E.  Y.  Rice,  who  had  studied  law  with  me,  instructed 
the  jury  that  they  must  believe,  beyond  a  reasonable 
doubt,  not  only  that  Martin  Taylor  was  a  slave,  but  that 
I  had  brought  him  into  the  state  for  the  purpose  of  set- 
ting him  free . 

Having  very  little  professional  business,  early  in  Feb- 
ruary, I  visited  Washington  by  the  direction  of  Governor 
Oglesby.  His  object  was  to  get  our  quota  of  men  un- 
der the  pending  draft  reduced.  It  seems  to  have  been 
the  plan  of  the  war  department  to  require  each  state  to 


224  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

furnish  its  proportion  according  to  the  population,  for 
the  military  service,  and  Illinois  had  furnished  eighteen 
thousand  men  more  than  its  quota.  General  James  B. 
Fry  was  provost  marshal  at  that  time,  and  had  charge 
of  the  "draft."  I  called  upon  him  in  Washington  and 
announced  my  mission  to  be  from  the  governor  of  Illi- 
nois, and  entered  upon  a  discussion  of  the  subject  of 
my  visit.  With  the  figures  furnished  me  by  the  gov- 
ernor and  the  adjutant-general  of  Illinois  (General  Isham 
N.  Haynie) ,  we  made  repeated  calculations  of  the  whole 
number  of  men  furnished  by  all  the  states,  of  the  num- 
ber of  each  of  the  states,  and  of  the  number  furnished  by 
Illinois,  and  after  I  had  demonstrated  by  all  known 
methods  of  calculation  that  Illinois  had  sent  more  men 
to  the  field  than  it  ought  to  be  charged  with,  and  I  had 
lost  my  temper  at  General  Fry's  obstinate  adherence  to 
his  own  estimates,  and  he  had  become  excited,  too,  he 
said,  "The  president  has  reviewed  these  figures  and  di- 
rected the  call  for  the  men  upon  Illinois."  I  said, 
"General  Fry,  if  you  had  told  me  that  an  hour  ago,  it 
would  have  saved  you  and  me  from  some  wear  and  tear 
of  temper.  I  will  speak  to  the  president  about  the 
matter." 

He  wished  me  success,  and  I  immediately  went  to  the 
"White  House"  and  saw  Mr.  Lincoln,  explained  to  him 
that  my  errand  was  from  Governor  Oglesby  to  get  our 
quota  corrected,  when  he  stopped  me  by  saying,  "Palmer, 
I  can  get  more  men  easily  in  Illinois  than  some  other 
places.  I  directed  the  quota  of  Illinois  myself,  and  I 
must  have  the  men,  and  neither  you  nor  'Dick'  can 
make  a  fuss  about  it !"  I  said  no  more,  for  I  knew  he 
meant  what  he  said. 

I  then  said  to  him,  "Mr.  Lincoln,  I  wrote  you  a  letter 
last  September,  saying  that  'I  did  not  wish  to  be  one  of 
your  unemployed  generals,'  and  you  answered  me  on  a 
card,  saying,  'When  I  want  your  resignation,  I  will  tell 
you.'  "  He  said,  "I  have  a  job  for  you  now,  the  com- 
mand of  the  department  of  Kentucky."  I  replied,  "I 


IN  COMMAND  OF  DEPARTMENT  OF  KENTUCKY.       225 

have  commanded  troops  in  the  field  during  my  military 
service,  but  I  do'nt  want  to  go  to  Kentucky  and  spend 
my  time  quarreling  with  the  politicians." 

He  said,  "Go  to  Stanton  and  get  your  orders,  and 
come  back  here  at  nine  o'clock  to-morrow,  and  I'll  tell 
you  who  are  our  friends  and  what  makes  a  change  in 
that  command  necessary." 

When  I  returned  in  the  morning,  I  saw  several  per- 
sons going  in  and  out  of  his  room,  and  became  slightly 
impatient,  but  when  the  colored  doorkeeper  came  and 
inquired  forme,  I  entered  the  room  and  found  him  seated 
in  an  office  chair  engaged  in  being  shaved.  He  said, 
"You  are  home-folks,  and  I  must  shave.  I  cannot  do 
so  before  senators  and  representatives  who  call  upon  me  ; 
but  I  thought  I  could  do  so  before  you." 

We  then  commenced  to  talk  of  the  affairs  of  Ken- 
tucky. I  repeated  what  I  had  said  the  evening  before 
about  my  reluctance  to  go  to  Kentucky  and  quarrel  with 
the  politicians,  and  he  said,  "Go  to  Kentucky,  keep  your 
temper,  do  as  you  please,  and  I  will  sustain  you." 

Then  occurred  an  incident  which  affords  a  key  to  Mr. 
Lincoln's  policy,  and  accounts  for  his  successful  conduct 
of  the  civil  war. 

I  was  silent  while  the  barber  was  shaving  him  about 
the  neck,  but  after  he  was  through  with  that  particular 
part  of  his  duties,  I  said  :  "Mr.  Lincoln,  if  I  had  known  at 
Chicago  that  this  great  rebellion  was  to  occur,  I  would  not 
have  consented  to  go  to  a  one-horse  town  like  Springfield, 
and  take  a  one-horse  lawyer,  and  make  him  president." 
He  pushed  the  barber  from  him,  turned  the  chair,  and 
said  in  an  excited  manner  :  "Neither  would  I,  Palmer. 
If  we  had  had  a  great  man  for  the  presidency,  one  who  had 
an  inflexible  policy  and  stuck  to  it,  this  rebellion  would 
have  succeeded,  and  the  Southern  Confederacy  would 
have  been  established.  All  that  I  have  done  is,  that  I 
have  striven  to  do  my  duty  to-day,  with  the  hope  that 
when  to-morrow  comes,  I  will  be  ready  for  it !" 
15 


226  THE  STORY   OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

This  was  the  last  time  I  saw  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  was 
assassinated  by  John  Wilkes  Booth  on  April  14th  fol- 
lowing. I  saw  his  remains  on  May  3,  1865,  when  with 
Governor  Bramlette  and  others,  I  attended  his  funeral, 
which  occurred  May  4,  1865,  and  the  nation  has  erected 
a  monument  to  his  memory  which  still  stands  at  the 
cemetery  of  Oak  Ridge,  at  Springfield,  Illinois. 

My  orders,  which  created  the  Department  of  Ken- 
tucky, and  assigned  me  to  its  command,  were  dated 
February  10th,  but  I  did  not  assume  the  command  of 
the  department  until  the  18th  day  of  the  same  month. 
On  my  arrival  at  Louisville,  which  was  to  be  the  head- 
quarters of  the  department,  I  proceeded  to  Frankfort 
where  the  legislature  was  in  session. 

General  Burbridge,  who  commanded  the  "District  of 
Kentucky,"  was  a  native  of  the  state,  and  extremely 
unpopular,  as  any  native  and  resident  of  the  state  would 
have  been  who  had  attempted  to  enforce  martial  law  at 
his  home.  He  was  charged  with  cruelty  and  favoritism. 
He  had  a  military  prison  at  Lexington,  in  which  were 
confined  deserters  from  the  Federal  army,  guerrillas  and 
many  others  whose  offenses  consisted  of  speaking  in  op- 
position to  the  government  of  the  United  States.  Soon 
after  the  assumption  of  the  command  of  the  department, 
I  visited  the  prison  in  Lexington.  The  adjutant  of  the 
post  called  the  list  of  the  prisoners,  and  read  the  charges 
against  them.  I  was  particularly  struck  with  the  charges 
against  one  of  them,  whose  name  I  have  unfortunately 
forgotten. 

His  age  was  stated  to  be  sixty-eight  years,  and  his  oc- 
cupation to  be  that  of  a  farmer,  and  I  ordered  him  to  be 
produced.  When  he  came  before  me  I  asked  him  his 
name  and  age,  and  if  he  knew  what  were  the  charges 
against  him?  He  answered  my  questions  as  to  his 
name  and  age,  and  said,  in  respect  to  the  charges  :  "I 
am  charged  with  cursing  this  d— d  abolition  govern- 
ment and  your  d — d  abolition  president."  I  said 
to  him :  "Do  you  find  you  have  hurt  them  by  cursing 


IN  COMMAND  OF  DEPARTMENT  OF  KENTUCKY.   227 

them?"  he  answered  with  another  oath.  I  said  to 
him:  "You  can't  stay  here;  you  would  spoil  all  the 
prisoners  ;  get  your  baggage,  and  get  a  ticket  for  your 
home  from  the  adjutant."  He  was  discharged  and 
Governor  Robinson  afterwards  told  me  that  he  had  met 
my  late  prisoner  on  the  street,  and  he  said  that  "Palmer 
was  a  Kentuckian,  and  a  d — d  clever  fellow." 

General  Sherman  had  a  prison  for  females  at  Louis- 
ville which  cost  me  more  trouble  than  any  other  matter 
in  the  department.  "Dr.  Mary  Walker"  had  applied 
to  me  for  an  indorsement  that  she  be  placed  on  the  staff 
of  the  regular  army,  with  the  rank  of  captain,  and  I  had 
signed  the  indorsement,  which  was  a  recommendation. 
She  presented  this  indorsement  to  Mr.  Stanton,  the 
secretary  of  war,  and  he  indorsed  on  the  application : 
"As  General  Palmer  seems  to  be  struck  on  Dr.  Mary 
Walker,  he  is  authorized  to  employ  her  as  a  contract 
surgeon."  When  she  returned,  I  assigned  her  to  be  the 
"medical  officer  at  the  female  prison."  Soon  after  her 
assignment  she  reported  to  me  that  the  female  prisoners 
were  allowing  the  officers  and  guards  at  the  prison  to 
take  improper  liberties  with  them.  She  made  the  report 
more  than  once,  and  finally  said  to  me  :  "You  are  afraid 
of  them,"  which  I  confessed  to  be  true,  but  at  the 
same  time  I  determined  to  break  up  the  prison  and  send 
the  women  to  their  homes.  Soon  after  Dr.  Walker  made 
her  last  report  I  visited  the  prison  and  stated  to  the 
prisoners  present  that  after  my  accession  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  department,  I  had  assigned  to  them  a 
medical  officer  of  their  own  sex,  and  had  done  every- 
thing possible  for  their  comfort.  Some  of  them  an- 
swered :  "That  thing — "  referring  to  Dr.  Walker — "and 
she  is  kin  to  him,  look  at  his  hair!"  I  then  said: 
"Ladies,  I  will  break  up  this  prison;  get  your  things 
and  your  tickets  from  the  adjutant,  and  go  home ;  I 
will  no  longer  be  troubled  with  you ; ' '  and  then  most 
of  them  commenced  crying,  either  for  joy  or  vexa- 
tion. At  all  events  the  female  prison  was  broken  up. 


228  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

On  February  18,  1865,  I  addressed  the  legislature  and 
the  citizens  of  Frankfort,  at  the  capitol,  the  substance  of 
which  address  is  as  follows  : 

"The  reason  I  desire  to  address  the  members  of  the 
general  assembly,  and  such  of  your  citizens  as  have  hon- 
ored me  with  their  presence,  is,  that  I  wish  to  express 
and  make  fully  understood  the  object  of  my  coming 
among  you.  My  life  has  been  spent  in  the  civil  walks 
of  life.  I  entered  the  army  with  great  reluctance. 
Warfare  was  contrary  to  my  habits  and  education,  and 
was  repugnant  to  all  my  tastes.  I  only  entered  the  mil- 
itary service  in  obedience  to  the  convictions  of  duty,  and 
because  I  believed  that  all  the  people  of  all  the  states 
were  interested  in  the  maintenance  of  the  government. 
I  did  not  enter  the  military  service  on  account  of  any 
hatred  towards  our  brethren  of  the  far  South,  or  of  any 
peculiar  love  for  the  people  of  the  North,  but  because  I 
thought  the  interests  of  all,  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
and  the  whole  of  the  Southern  States,  as  well  as  those  of 
the  Northern  States,  demanded  that  the  destruction  of 
the  government  should  not  be  allowed. 

"In  the  course  of  affairs,  I  have  been  sent,  by  those 
having  authority  over  me,  to  the  State  of  Kentucky.  I 
come  feeling  sensibly  the  difficulties  and  delicacy  of  the 
position.  In  the  field,  the  duties  of  the  commander, 
though  onerous,  and  dangerous,  are  comparatively  sim- 
ple— not  so  here.  To  the  military  duties  are  added 
those  of  a  semi-civil  character,  rendering  the  position 
complex  and  most  delicate.  Your  state  is  regarded  by 
the  government  and  myself  as  loyal,  and  her  people  en- 
titled to  the  enjoyment  of  all  private  and  public  rights 
and  immunities  of  a  loyal  people.  These  rights  are 
threatened  and  obstructed  by  those  who  are  the  enemies, 
not  so  much  of  government,  in  the  abstract,  as  of  the 
general  good  order  and  quiet  of  the  people— desperadoes 
and  marauders  whose  object  is  spoliation  and  plunder. 
It  is  to  protect  you  against  these  men  that  I  am  here, 


IN  COMMAND  OF  DEPARTMENT  OF  KENTUCKY.   229 

and  I  hope  and  believe  that  I  shall  receive  the  hearty 
support  of  all  your  people  in  this  work. 

"I  cannot  fail  to  observe  from  your  public  journals, 
the  proceedings  of  your  legislature,  and  conversations 
with  your  citizens,  that  you  are  divided  into  parties, 
and  that  deep  feeling  and  some  degree  of  bitterness  ex- 
ists between  the  parties.  This  is  not  surprising.  Un- 
der the  circumstances  as  they  exist,  and  the  mighty  is- 
sues which  are  involved,  it  would  be  most  remarkable  if 
it  were  not  so.  But  whatever  may  be  the  differences  as 
to  collateral  and  incidental  questions  involved,  there  is 
one  upon  which  there  can  be  no  difference — that  of  giv- 
ing protection  to  your  people. 

"The  people  ought  to  have  the  right,  and  the  Federal 
Government  is  pledged  that  they  shall  have  the  right, 
to  speak  without  restraint,  and  act  freely  upon  all  sub- 
jects connected  with  the  general  welfare  ;  and  surely  I, 
a  lover  of  law  and  order,-  will  most  cheerfully  secure 
every  man  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  his  personal  rights. 
I  know  I  speak  the  sentiments  of  the  federal  administra- 
tion when  I  say  that  my  views  were  known  upon  this 
subject  when  I  was  sent  here,  and  it  was  to  carry  them 
into  execution  that  I  was  sent.  I  hope  you  gentlemen 
of  the  legislature,  coming  as  you  do  from  all  parts  of 
the  state,  will  aid  me  in  carrying  them  out. 

"I  will  not  make  any  pledges ;  indeed,  I  should  feel 
humiliated  if  I  were  to  make  any  pledge  as  to  what  par- 
ticular thing  I  will  do  or  will  not  do.  Suffice  it  to  say, 
I  come  among  you  as  a  representative  of  the  National 
Government,  and  I  feel  that  almost  all  depends  upon 
each  and  every  one  performing  his  own  duties  in  his 
own  sphere.  Let  the  citizen,  the  soldier,  the  officer,  civil 
or  military,  each  attend  to  his  own  business,  and  all  will 
work  well. 

"I  feel  confident  that  we  shall  have  no  difficulty,  that 
the  state  and  federal  authorities  will  act  in  perfect  har- 
mony and  concert  in  the  discharge  of  the  various  duties 
before  us.  I  thank  you,  most  sincerely,  for  these  mani- 


230  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

festations  of  your  kindness,  and   the   honor  you  have 
done  me."     .     .     , 

On  February  24th,  I  reported  to  Mr.  Stanton,  the 
secretary  of  war,  that  I  had  assumed  the  command 
of  the  department  on  February  18,  1865,  and  that  I 
had  visited  Frankfort  and  conferred  with  Governor 
Bramlette,  and  found  him  ready  to  cooperate  with  the 
military  forces  of  the  United  States.  I  said,  "It  was 
easy  to  detect  on  the  part  of  the  governor  a  preference 
or  desire  to  raise  state  forces,  but  he  did  not  urge  it, 
nor  will  he,  as  I  think,  persist  in  it  if  disagreeable  to  the 
military  authorities  of  the  general  government.  He  is 
pressed  by  many  men  who  desire  to  enter  into  such  or- 
ganizations, and  he  feels  the  importance  of  giving  pro- 
tection to  the  people.  The  Federal  forces  employed 
heretofore  in  the  state  have  not  been  relied  on  for  the 
latter  object  with  absolute  confidence,  for  they  are  fre- 
quently changed,  the  best  regiments  naturally  going  to 
the  front,  and  the  least  efficient  remaining  here,  so  far 
as  I  can  judge,  to  grow  worse."  I  found  on  my  arrival 
in  Kentucky  that  General  Stoneman  was  withdrawing 
the  cavalry  from  the  department,  and  I  said,  "The  with- 
drawal of  the  cavalry  under  the  order  referred  to,  leav- 
ing as  it  does  many  points  in  the  state  without  pro- 
tection, gives  force  to  the  feelings  of  the  governor. 
.  .  .  I  think  it  highly  important  that  this  authority 
should  be  granted ;  the  troops  are  needed ;  the  men  can 
be  had,  and,  indeed,  are  eager  to  enter  the  service,  es- 
pecially is  this  true  of  old  soldiers  who  have  been 
honorably  discharged  after  three  years  service  and  are 
now  unable  to  remain  at  their  homes.  They  wish  to 
defend  their  homes  and  kill  the  miscreants  who  have 
murdered  many  of  their  comrades  since  their  return, 
and  I  sympathize  with  the  feeling.  Let  me  beg  the 
attention  of  the  war  department  to  this  point;  "and  I 
added,  "the  colored  troops  in  the  state,  as  they  are  in- 
fantry, will  soon  be  sufficient  for  all  guard  or  other 
local  duty,  and  with  the  regiments  proposed  to  be  raised 


IN  COMMAND  OF  DEPARTMENT  OF  KENTUCKY.       231 

will,  in   my  judgment,  be   sufficient  to   establish   and 
maintain  order  in  the  department. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had  mentioned  Dr.  Robert  J.  Brecken- 
ridge  as  a  prominent  Union  man,  and  one  to  be  con- 
sulted about  Kentucky  affairs.  Unfortunately  the  son 
of  Dr.  Breckenridge,  Colonel  R.  J.  Breckenridge,  was 
arrested  at  Keene,  in  Jessamine  Co.,  in  rebel  uniform, 
and  had  possession  of  the  following  general  order :  "All 
officers  and  men  now  in  Kentucky  upon  military  service 
under  authority  other  than  that  of  the  secretary  of  war 
are  required  to  report  to  Colonel  R.  J.  Breckenridge, 
whose  orders  they  are  commanded  to  obey.  All  who 
have  authority  from  the  secretary  of  war,  prior  to  April 
4,  1864,  or  from  these  headquarters,  whose  time  has 
expired,  will  report  to  their  respective  commands  or  to 
these  headquarters.  All  who  fail  to  obey  this  order 
promptly  will  at  once  be  reported  to  the  existing  au- 
thorities in  Kentucky  as  not  recognized  by  the  Con- 
federate government  as  prisoners  of  war  if  captured. 

By  command  of  Major-General  Breckenridge. 

J.  STODDARD  JOHNSON,  A.  A.  (?.' 

I  was  disposed  to  treat  Colonel  R.  J.  Breckenridge  as 
a  spy,  but  Mr.  Lincoln  telegraphed  me  to  send  him  to 
Columbus,  Ohio,  as  a  prisoner  of  war.  Still  that  cir- 
cumstance made  it  necessary  that  I  should  issue  general 
order  No.  4  : 

"HEADQUARTERS   DEP'T   OP   KENTUCKY, 

"LOUISVILLE,  KY.,  Feb.  25,  1865. 

"Reliable  evidence  has  reached  these  headquarters 
that  emissaries  of  the  Rebel  government  are  engaged 
in  recruiting  for  their  exhausted  armies  in  the  State  of 
Kentucky.  Appeals  are  again  made  to  the  young  men 
of  the  state  to  disregard  their  duty  and  risk  their  lives 
and  honor  in  a  wicked  and  desperate  cause,  while  men 
who  have  deserted  the  Rebel  service,  and  are  now  peace- 
ably at  their  homes,  are  required  to  rejoin  their  com- 


232  THE  STOKY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

mands  and  again  encounter  the  perils  of  treason  under 
the  threatened  penalty  of  betrayal  to  the  Federal  au- 
thorities, who  they  are  taught  to  believe  will  treat  them 
as  outlaws  and  guerrillas.  To  counteract  these  efforts 
to  mislead  the  men  who  have  in  good  faith  deserted 
the  Rebel  service,  all  deserters  from  the  Rebel  armies 
now  in  this  department  will  within  thirty  days  after 
date  report  themselves  to  the  provost  marshal  of  the 
county  in  which  they  reside  for  registry,  and  all  persons 
who  may  hereafter  desert  from  the  Rebel  armies  and 
come  r  into  this  department  will  within  five  days  after 
their  arrival  report  themselves  for  the  same  purpose. 
The  provost  marshal  will  receive  the  report  of  all  persons 
presenting  themselves  under  this  order  and  will  register 
the  names,  age,  residence  and  particular  military  organi- 
tions  from  which  they  have  deserted.  Such  registry 
will  be  regarded  by  the  military  authorities  of  this  de- 
partment as  a  distinct  renunciation  of  all  further  con- 
nection with  the  Rebel  government,  and  as  entitling  the 
registered  person,  who  demeans  himself  as  a  peaceable 
citizen  to  military  protection. 

"Persons  who  refuse  to  present  themselves  for  regis- 
try, as  required  by  this  order,  will  be  understood  as  ad- 
hering to  the  Rebel  government,  and  if  captured  will  be 
treated  as  spies,  guerrillas  or  otherwise  according  to  the 
circumstances  of  the  case." 

The  congress  of  the  United  States,  on  March  3,  1865, 
had  passed  a  law  declaring  that  "the  wives  and  children 
of  colored  men  who  have  heretofore  enlisted,  or  who  may 
hereafter  enlist  in  the  military  service  of  the  United 
States,  are  free." 

On  March  12,  1865,  by  order  No.  10, 1  announced  the 
passage  of  this  law  to  the  colored  people  of  the  depart- 
ment. I  said  in  the  order,  "This  act  of  justice  to  the 
soldiers,  claims  from  them  renewed  efforts  of  courage, 
fortitude  and  discipline,  to  gain  a  good  name  to  be 
shared  by  a  free  wife  and  children.  To  colored  men  not 
in  the  army,  it  offers  an  opportunity  to  earn  freedom  for 


IN  COMMAND  OF  DEPARTMENT  OF  KENTUCKY.      £33 

themselves  and  their  posterity.  The  rights  secured  to 
colored  soldiers  under  this  law  will,  if  necessary,  be 
enforced  by  the  military  authorities  of  this  depart- 
ment." 

The  fact  is,  that  the  passage  of  this  act,  enfranchising 
the  families  of  colored  soldiers,  called  upon  me  for  the 
decision  of  a  great  many  most  interesting  questions.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  there  was  no  law  in  the  State 
of  Kentucky  regulating  the  marriage  of  slaves,  nor  the 
relation  of  the  parent  and  child.  It  may  serve  to  illus- 
trate my  dilemma  when  I  relate  an  interview  bejbween 
Governor  John  L.  Helm  and  myself. 

Governor  Helm  reported  to  me  that  two  of  his  negro 
women,  slaves,  had  married  colored  soldiers  in  camp  at 
Elizabethtown,  and  they  claimed  to  be  free  on  account 
of  the  marriage.  I  said  to  him  in  reply,  "You  have  no 
law  in  the  State  of  Kentucky  which  recognizes  the  mar- 
riage of  slaves.  I  am  compelled  by  the  act  of  congress 
to  hold  that  colored  soldiers  may  have  wives  and  chil- 
dren. Marriages  existed  before  laws  were  made,  and 
children  were  the  products  of  such  marriages."  Gov- 
ernor Helm  told  me  that  "both  of  these  women  had 
husbands."  I  told  him  that  I  had  no  court  with  juris- 
diction to  try  such  cases,  and  that  I  was  compelled  to 
depend  upon  the  mere  fact  that  those  persons  recognized 
each  other  as  husband  and  wife.  The  law  was  greatly 
abused  by  the  colored  people  of  Kentucky,  and  there  is 
no  reason  to  doubt  that  polygamous  alliances  were  very 
often  formed  for  the  sake  of  freedom  under  this  act  of 
congress. 

I  had  great  trouble  to  prevent  the  oppression  of  the 
colored  people  who  were  often  sold  to  the  government  as 
"substitutes,"  and  the  city  of  Louisville  went  into  the 
business  of  buying  substitutes  in  order  to  meet  the 
"draft,"  and  I  was  compelled  to  issue  the  following : 

"General  Order  No.  5.  Officers  charged  with  recruit- 
ing colored  troops  are  informed  that  the  use  of  force  or 
menaces  to  compel  the  enlistment  of  colored  men  is 


234  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

both  unlawful  and  disgraceful.  Several  cases  of  this 
kind  have  been  reported  to  these  headquarters,  and  are 
under  investigation.  The  able-bodied  men  of  the  state 
are  enrolled,  and  have  the  right  to  volunteer  for  the 
service  of  the  country.  In  this  respect,  there  is  no  dif- 
ference on  account  of  color.  No  man  can  be  forced  into 
the  service  unless  in  pursuance  of  the  law.  Any  viola- 
tion of  the  order  or  threat  towards  white  or  black  men 
to  compel  them  to  enlist  will  be  severely  punished.  No 
bounty-broker  will  be  allowed  to  accompany  any  re- 
cruiting party  or  in  any  way  intermeddle  with  other 
operations." 

The  city  council  made  an  appropriation  for  providing 
such  substitutes,  and  at  the  same  time  were  using  the 
prisons  and  slave  pens,  which  existed  in  the  city  for  com- 
pelling colored  men  to  enlist.  I  therefore  issued  an  or- 
der which  prohibited  the  confinement  of  any  person  in 
any  other  place  than  a  jail  recognized  by  the  civil  au- 
thorities, and  also  an  order  authorizing  the  "Rev. 
Thomas  James  (colored)  to  inquire  into  the  case  of  all 
colored  persons  arrested  and  held  in  confinement  by  the 
civil  or  military  authorities  in  this  department." 

On  May  15,  1865,  I  opened  a  correspodence  with 
Geo.  W.  Johnston,  judge  of  the  police  court,  in  which  I 
said,  "It  has  been  reported  to  these  headquarters  that  a 
number  of  colored  men  and  women  are  confined  in  the 
workhouse  for  improper  causes.  I  will  send  an  officer 
this  afternoon  at  two  o'clock  and  investigate  the  nature 
of  the  charges.  You  will  therefore  instruct  your  keeper 
to  admit  the  officer." 

There  was  a  law  of  the  State  of  Kentucky  which 
forbade  negro  slaves  to  go  at  large  and  hire  themselves 
out  as  free  persons. 

The  case  of  Jacob  Hardin  illustrates  the  condition  of 
things  in  Kentucky.  On  June  3,  1865,  I  addressed  to 
the  keeper  of  the  Louisville  workhouse  a  letter,  of  which 
the  following  is  a  copy  : 


IN  COMMAND  OF  DEPARTMENT  OF  KENTUCKY.     235 

"HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OP  KENTUCKY, 

"LOUISVILLE,  June  3,  1865. 

"To  THE  KEEPER  OP  THE  LOUISVILLE  WORKHOUSE — 
Unless  Jacob  Hardln,  a  colored  man,  is  detained  in  your 
custody  for  some  other  cause  than  the  order  of  the  city 
court  of  Louisville,  that  he  be  confined  in  the  workhouse 
until  his  master  shall  give  bail,  and  he  will  not  be  suf- 
fered to  goat  large  and  hire  himself  out  as  a  'free  man,' 
you  will  at  once  release  him  from  confinement ;  Ser- 
geant Hirschberger  will  deliver  the  order,  and  see  that 
it  is  complied  with. 

"By  command  of  Major-General  Palmer. 

"(Signed,)  J.  BATES  DICKSON,  A.  A.  G." 

In  consequence  of  this,  a  letter  was  received  from 
George  W.  Johnston,  police  judge,  to  which  I  dictated 
the  following  reply : 

"HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OP  KENTUCKY, 

"LOUISVILLE,  June  3,  1865. 
' 'GEORGE  W.  JOHNSTON,  Judge  Louisville  City  Court: 

"SiR — Your  letter  of  yesterday's  date,  addressed  to 
Captain  E.  B.  Harlan,  assistant  adjutant-general,  in 
which  you  state  that  'Jacob  Hardin,'  represented  to  the 
court  to  be  a  slave,  was  committed  to  the  workhouse 
until  his  master  should  give  bail,  that  he  would  not  be 
suffered  to  go  at  large  and  hire  himself  out  'as  a  free 
man,'  was  this  morning  laid  before  me. 

"It  is  no  part  of  the  duty  of  the  military  authorities, 
under  ordinary  circumstances,  to  interfere  with  the  ac- 
tion of  the  courts  of  the  state,  or  to  obstruct  the  opera- 
tions of  the  local  laws,  but  it  is  their  clear  and  positive 
duty  to  protect  the  people  from  forcible  wrongs,  whether 
inflicted  under  the  forms  of  law  or  otherwise. 

"I  beg  to  assure  you  that  I  do  not  question  the  integ- 
rity of  the  judge  whose  sentence  is  under  consideration, 
though  I  express  the  opinion  that  it  is  without  and  un- 
supported by  any  existing  law.  'When  the  reason  of 


236  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  law  ceases,  the  law  itself  ceases,'  is  a  rule  founded  in 
reason,  and  is  recognized  by  all  courts. 

"The  particular  law  which  must  be  referred  to  to  sup- 
port this  order  was  enacted  by  the  legislature  of  Ken- 
tucky in  support  of  slavery.  According  to  the  policy  of 
the  state,  then  recognized  as  correct,  it  was  the  duty  and 
it  was  then  in  the  power  of  masters  to  prevent  their 
slaves  from  going  at  large  and  hiring  themselves  as  free 
persons,  while  the  slave  himself  had  no  interest  in  the 
question.  This  state  of  things  has,  however,  ceased. 
During  the  last  four  years,  from  causes  familiar  to  every 
one,  masters  were  not,  in  a  majority  of  cases,  able  to 
give  protection  to  their  slaves.  It  was  not  their  duty 
then,  even  according  to  the  theory  of  the  law  itself,  to 
restrain  them,  and  now,  when  the  bonds  of  slavery  are 
relaxed,  if  not  totally  broken,  it  is  not  in  the  power  of 
masters  to  prevent  slaves  from  going  at  large  and  hiring 
themselves  as  free  men. 

"This  highly  penal  law,  which  demands  impossible 
acts  from  the  owners  of  slaves,  must,  therefore,  be  held 
to  have  ceased  to  exist,  as  much  as  if  repealed  by  legis- 
lative authority.  There  is,  however,  another  thing  to 
be  said,  which  demonstrates  the  correctness  of  that  con- 
clusion— masters  have  ceased  to  provide  for  or  control 
those  who  are  nominally  their  slaves. 

"According  to  the  theory  of  the  obsolete  law,  these 
were  his  duties  ;  he  has  neglected  them,  yet,  by  a  strange 
perversion  of  justice,  the  slave  is  selected  as  the  object 
of  punishment.  This  man  Hardin,  now  before  me,  has 
upon  his  limbs  marks  made  by  iron  fetters,  placed  upon 
him  only  because  his  master  has  failed  to  obey  this  law. 

"Nor  is  this  the  only  enormity  presented  by  the  case. 
Hardin  is  ordered  to  be  kept  in  the  workhouse,  as  you 
inform  me,  not  for  a  period  so  fixed  as  to  determine,  not 
until  he  does  some  act,  but  until  the  master  over  whom 
he  can  have  no  influence  or  control,  and  who  has,  now 
that  slaves  are  valueless,  no  interest  in  him,  shall  volun- 
tarily give  bail,  that  he  shall  never  again  go  at  large  or 


IN  COMMAND  OF  DEPARTMENT  OF  KENTUCKY.      237 

hire  himself  as  a  free  man.     Hardin  himself  is  required 
to  do  nothing  ;  his  confinement  must  be  perpetual. 

"I  forward  you  herewith  my  order  made  upon  a  con- 
sideration of  the  whole  case. 

Very  respectfully, 
"JoHN  M.  PALMER,  Major-GeneralComd'g.'" 

As  early  as  May  11, 1865,  the  mayor  of  the  City  of  Louis- 
ville and  a  committee  of  the  general  council  of  that  city, 
complained  to  me  of  the  presence  and  condition  of  the  large 
number  of  colored  people  in  the  city,  and  expressed  ap- 
prehensions of  pestilence  from  their  crowded  state,  and 
asked  me  to  cooperate  with  them  in  ridding  the  city  of 
the  evil.  I  assured  the  mayor  and  the  committee  of  my 
cooperation  in  any  judicious  scheme  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare and  happiness  of  the  people  of  the  city.  Before  re- 
plying to  the  general  facts  and  views  here  expressed,  I 
said  :  "Allow  me  to  correct  the  error  contained  in  your 
statement  'That  no  arrangement  was  or  has  been  made 
by  the  military  authorities  for  the  protection  or  the  sup- 
port of  the  colored  persons  coming  into  the  city.' 

"On  the  contrary,  the  wives  and  children  of  colored 
soldiers  coming  here,  and  those  residing  in  the  city  have 
been  fed  by  the  government,  and  all  who  could  be  in- 
duced to  do  so  have  been  transported  to  Camp  Nelson, 
and  there  provided  for  at  the  national  expense,  and  the 
military  authorities  are  still  willing  to  provide  in  the 
same  way  for  all  of  that  class. 

"But  there  are  difficulties  in  the  problem  you  present, 
which  cannot  be  solved  by  the  enforcement  of  the  laws 
against  vagrancy,  or  by  restricting  the  right  of  the  own- 
ers of  the  slaves,  to  allow  them  the  small  measure  of 
freedom  implied  in  permitting  them  to  hire  their  own 
time,  and  go  at  large  as  free  persons.  These  people  and 
their  ancestors  for  generation  are,  and  have  been,  natives 
of  the  State  of  Kentucky,  and  have  all  as  strong  local 
attachments  as  other  natives  of  the  state. 

"Recent  events,  which  need  not  be  particularized,  have 


238  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

disturbed,  if  not  changed,  their  relations  towards  those 
who  were  their  former  masters. 

"What  is  now  required  is,  that  their  relations  to  the 
state  shall  be  defined  with  reference  to  existing,  and  not 
past,  facts.  When  that  is  done,  confidence  between  the 
races  will  be  restored  ;  each  will  become  again  useful  to 
the  other,  and  order  and  prosperity  will  take  the  place 
of  the  confusion  and  vagrancy,  which  is  now  seen  on 
every  hand,  to  the  alarm  of  all.  As  preliminary  to  this, 
and  as  preventive  to  vagrancy,  these  people  must  be 
allowed  to  migrate  at  their  pleasure,  and  seek  employ- 
ment where  it  may  be  found.  Now,  under  the  operation 
of  laws,  obsolete  for  all  useful  purposes,  and  alive  only 
for  evil,  colored  men  and  women  in  Kentucky  who 
might  and  would  find  employment  elsewhere,  are  for- 
bidden to  cross  the  Ohio  river,  except  upon  almost  im- 
possible conditions. 

"Capitalists,  who  own  and  operate  the  boats  navigat- 
ing the  river,  which  has  already  led  some  minds  to  inquire 
whether  the  ownership  of  large  property  is  not  a  disquali- 
fication, rather  than  a  proper  qualification  for  the  manly 
experience  of  the  rights  of  citizenship,  they,  terrified  by 
these  grim  shadows  of  the  past,  throw  unjust  and  op- 
pressive difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  transit  of  even  free 
persons,  while  those  whose  right  to  freedom  is  questioned 
by  any  one,  upon  grounds  however  slight,  are  denied 
the  right  of  escaping  from  idleness  and  enforced  vagrancy, 
to  whom  industry  is  possible  and  employment  within 
reach. 

"This  difficulty,  however,  can  be  partially  obviated  by 
military  authority.  Deeply  impressed  with  the  dangers 
of  the  public  health,  which  you  so  truly  and  forcibly  de- 
pict, and  anxious  that  the  laboring  poor  of  the  city  shall 
be  saved  the  terrible  consequence  of  the  disastrous  pesti- 
lence, of  which  you  assure  me  that  great  fears  are  enter- 
tained, I  have  caused  to  be  issued  the  General  Order  32, 
from  the  headquarters  of  this  department,  a  copy  of 
which  is  herewith  laid  before  you,  and  will,  I  hope,  meet 


IN  COMMAND  OF  DEPARTMENT  OF  KENTUCKY.   239 

your  approval.  .  .  .  Vagrancy  as  a  crime  is  volun- 
tary idleness  and  profligacy.  The  only  offense  urged  by 
you  against  them  is  poverty,  .  .  .  and  when  the 
difficulties  which  clog  and  embarrass  the  efforts  of  the 
whole  race  to  earn  homes  and  bread  are  removed,  dis- 
crimination will  be  impossible,  and  the  really  guilty  can 
be  punished.  Now,  such  is  the  uncertainty  of  the 
status  of  many,  that  even  men  seeking  labor,  dare  not 
employ  or  harbor  them.  The  wives  and  children  of 
colored  soldiers  are  told  by  some  that  the  joint  resolu- 
tion of  congress,  giving  them  freedom,  is  unconstitu- 
tional and  void,  and  that  when,  in  the  language  of  an 
eminent  politician,  'federal  bayonets  are  withdrawn, 
the  courts  of  the  state  will  so  declare,  and  all  claimants 
of  freedom  under  it  will  be  adjudged  slaves.' 

"Alarmed  at  this  prospect,  these  helpless  people 
abandoned  their  late  masters,  and  flocked  to  this  city 
for  protection,  and  they  shall  have  it  so  long  as  I  com- 
mand this  department.  .  .  .  Other  classes  of  col- 
ored persons  are  also  free,  and  their  right  to  freedom  is 
doubted,  questioned,  and  denied.  They  fly,  and  none 
dare  employ  them,  and  because  they  cannot  be  employed, 
and  live  in  enforced  idleness,  they  are  by  many  called 
'vagrants.'  .  .  .  American  people,  whether  of  Eu- 
ropean or  African  descent,  have  their  rights  under  the 
constitution  and  the  laws,  and  the  military  authorities 
of  the  United  States  will,  in  this  department,  claiming 
no  power  or  authority  to  do  otherwise,  so  far  as  possible, 
protect  all,  and  will  gladly  cooperate  with  the  authori- 
ties of  the  City  of  Louisville  in  every  effort  to  promote 
the  interests  and  preserve  the  health  of  all  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  city. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be,  etc., 
"JOHN  M.  PALMER,  Maj.-Gen.  Comd'g  the  Dept." 

"General  Order  No.  32"  provided  for  the  issue  of 
"passes"  to  colored  persons  upon  the  tender  of  the  usual 
rates  of  transportation. 


240  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Rumor  of  freedom  amongst  the  negroes— Fourth  of  July,  1865 — "Golden 
chariot  and  'bosses'  of  salvajtion  " — Judge  George  W.  Johnston — 
Indictments  against  me — Letter  to  Hon.  George  Robertson — Elec- 
tion order  of  1865 — Revisit  the  old  home — Mr.  Garrett — Letter  to 
Mr.  Dana — Letter  to  the  president — Success  of  the  conservatives — 
Letter  to  Judge  Trumbull. 

The  negroes  in  Kentucky  believed  that  I  had  unlimited 
power,  and  one  of  those  impalpable  rumors  reached  the 
negro  population  that  if  they  would  come  to  Louisville 
on  the  Fourth  of  July,  I  would  declare  them  to  be  free. 
The  first  I  heard  of  such  a  rumor  was  from  Mr.  O'Ban- 
non,  of  Eminence,  Kentucky,  which  was  about  sixty 
miles  from  Louisville.  He  called  at  my  headquarters  a 
few  days  before  the  Fourth,  and  after  the  courtesies  of 
the  occasion — for  I  had  known  him — he  said  to  me  : 
"What  in  the  h — 11  do  you  mean  by  telling  the  negroes 
to  come  to  Louisville  on  the  Fourth  of  July  and  you 
will  set  them  free?"  I  replied:  "I  never  said  such  a 
thing  in  my  life  ;"  and  he  then  told  me  that  "the  whole 
negro  population  in  his  part  of  the  state  were  in  motion 
for  Louisville,  where  they  expected  to  be  declared  free 
by  me."  Between  that  time  and  the  Fourth  I  was  told 
that  negroes  from  all  the  surrounding  counties  were  mov- 
ing on  to  Louisville  with  the  expectation  that  I  would 
give  them  freedom. 

The  advance  of  the  negroes  began  to  arrive  on  July 
3d,  and  a  committee  of  them  waited  on  me  at  my  head- 
quarters to  know  "at  what  hour  and  at  what  place  I 
would  declare  their  freedom."  I  told  the  committee 
that  "I  had  no  authority  to  set  them  free,"  and  tried 
to  persuade  them  to  go  home  quietly  and  wait,  and  they 
would  be  free  after  awhile  anyhow.  There  was  a  circus 
at  the  time  in  Louisville,  performing  under  the  direction 
of  a  man  named  Noyes,  with  whom  I  had  formed  quite 


"  DE  GOLDEN  CHARIOT,"  ETC.  241 

an  acquaintance  from  frequent  attendance  upon  his  per- 
formances, and  through  Colonel  Mark  Mundy,  Noyes 
had  offered  me  his  gilded  chariot  and  the  piebald  horses 
to  take  myself  and  company  to  the  fair  grounds  to  hear 
Parsons,  who  had  been  an  actor,  and  was  now  a  Metho- 
dist preacher,  read  the  "Declaration  of  Independence." 
The  next  morning,  I  took  the  gilded  chariot  and  the 
piebald  horses,  with  Parsons,  Colonel  Mundy  and  Gen- 
eral Brisbane,  for  company,  and  reached  the  fair  grounds 
about  ten  o'clock  on  the  Fourth  of  July.  Parsons,  who 
was  an  excellent  reader,  and  had  a  grand  voice,  read 
"the  Declaration"  in  a  manner  which  I  have  never  heard 
equaled. 

Messengers  from  Louisville  told  me  that  the  city  was 
full  of  negroes  who  were  waiting  for  me  to  set  them 
free,  and  that  which  finally  determined  me  to  go  back 
to  the  city  was  a  message  from  Captain  E.  B.  Harlan, 
my  adjutant-general,  that  Mr.  James  Guthrie,  Mr.  Os- 
borne,  Judge  Ballard,  and  others  who  were  my  friends, 
had  called  upon  him  and  said  that  I  "must  return  in 
order  to  dispose  of  the  negroes,  of  whom  the  city  was 
full."  I  took  the  chariot  and  horses  and  returned  to 
the  city,  and  after  stopping  at  headquarters  long  enough 
to  consult  Harlan,  I  noticed  that  there  were  fewer 
negroes  in  town  than  usual,  and  was  told  that  nearly  all 
of  them  had  assembled  in  a  grove  south  of  the  city, 
where  I  would  find,  as  my  informant  said,  "Twenty 
thousand  negroes  waiting  for  freedom!"  I  proceeded 
south  on  Preston  street,  with  the  chariot  and  horses,  and 
General  James  S.  Brisbane  who  had  accompanied  me 
from  the  fair  grounds,  and  after  we  had  passed  Tenth 
street,  I  saw  outlying  negroes  run  back  to  the  crowd  after 
discovering  us  and  report  that  we  were  coming.  After 
we  reached  the  edge  of  the  crowd,  I  heard  one  old  negro 
man  shout  aloud  and  say,  "Dar  he  comes  in  the  golden 
chariot  and  de  hosses  of  salvation  !"  which  was  caught 
up  and  repeated  to  the  echo,  and  then  a  sense  of  the 
16 


242  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

ridiculous  nearly  overcame  me.  When  I  reached  the 
mass  of  colored  people  I  was  lifted  over  their  heads  and 
placed  upon  a  platform  erected  for  the  occasion  and 
surrounded  by  negroes  whom  "no  man  can  number." 
When  the  tumult  had  partially  subsided,  I  said,  "My 
countrymen,  you  are  substantially  free!"  They  never 
heard  the  word  "substantially."  There  went  up  a 
shout  which  could  have  been  heard  for  a  mile.  Some 
were  singing  and  shouting  as  if  they  were  in  a  re- 
ligious meeting,  and  terms  were  applied  to  me  that  were 
only  proper  when  used  in  reference  to  the  Supreme 
Being ;  while  I  thought  of  the  president  and  secretary 
of  war  and  doubted  if  they  would  sustain  me  ;  but  while 
I  stood  I  determined  to  "drive  the  last  nail  in  the 
coffin"  of  the  "institution"  even  if  it  cost  me  the  com- 
mand of  the  department.  How  long  I  stood  on  the 
platform  I  do  not  know,  but  when  the  noise  had  in  a 
measure  subsided,  I  said,  "My  countrymen,  you  are  free, 
and  while  I  command  in  this  department  the  military 
forces  of  the  United  States  will  defend  your  right  to 
freedom."  Nothing  like  the  scene  I  then  witnessed 
will  ever  occur  again  in  the  United  States,  for  human 
slavery  has  ceased  to  exist. 

Slavery  practically  ended  in  Kentucky  on  July  4, 
1865.  I  reported  my  conduct  on  that  occasion  to  the 
president  and  the  secretary  of  war,  and  as  a  consequence 
on  the  25th  of  July  the  following  order  was  issued  : 

"WAR  DEPARTMENT,  ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S  OFFICE, 

"WASHINGTON,  July  %5, 1865. 
"GENERAL  ORDER  No.  129. 

"To  secure  equal  justice  and  the  same  personal  liberty 
to  the  freedmen  as  to  other  citizens  and  inhabitants,  all 
orders  issued  by  post,  district  or  other  commanders, 
adopting  any  system  of  passes  for  them,  or  subjecting 
them  to  any  restraints  or  punishments  not  imposed  on 
other  classes,  are  declared  void. 

"Neither  white  nor  black  will  be  restrained  from  seek- 


"  DE  GOLDEN  CHARIOT,"  ETC.  243 

ing  employment  elsewhere  when  they  cannot  obtain  it 
at  a  just  compensation  at  their  homes  and  when  not 
bound  by  voluntary  agreement,  nor  will  they  be  hin- 
dered from  traveling  from  place  to  place  on  proper  and 
legitimate  business. 

By  command  of  the  secretary  of  war. 

E.  D.  TOWNSEND,  Assistant  Adjutant-General." 

And  thus  President  Johnson  kept  the  promise  made 
to  me  by  Mr.  Lincoln:  "Go  to  Kentucky,  keep  your 
temper,  do  as  you  please,  and  I  will  sustain  you." 

At  the  election  held  the  first  Monday  in  August,  1865, 
Judge  George  W.  Johnston,  who  had  before  that  time 
held  the  office  of  city  judge,  and  to  whom  I  have  referred 
as  one  of  my  correspondents,  was  elected  circuit  judge 
of  the  Jefferson  county  circuit  court. 

Judge  Johnston  was  a  good  lawyer  and  an  ardent 
well-wisher  of  the  Confederates,  but  I  may  as  well  say 
here,  that  I  have  never  met  an  old  lawyer  who  was  not 
conservative  in  his  opinions  and  devoted  to  the  orderly 
administration  of  justice. 

At  the  November  term  of  the  circuit  court  which 
Judge  Johnston  held,  he  charged  the  grand  jury,  that 
though  marshal  law  existed  in  Kentucky,  my  orders 
Nos.  32  and  49  were  illegal,  and  therefore  void,  and 
afforded  no  justification  for  any  one  who  acted  in  obedi- 
ence to  those  orders.  He  instructed  the  grand  jury 
that  slaves  who  escaped  under  my  orders  were  still 
slaves,  and  might  be  recaptured  by  their  masters  when 
found. 

He  mentioned  instances  where  slaves  had  escaped  un- 
der those  orders,  and  without  advising  the  grand  jury 
to  indict  me,  he  clearly  intimated  that  it  was  a  proper 
subject  for  their  investigation  and  consideration. 

The  grand  jury  of  Jefferson  county  at  the  November 
term  of  the  circuit  court  found  several  indictments 
against  me,  but  public  curiosity  will  be  satisfied  by  stat- 
ing the  substance  of  No.  9,424,  as  it  was  numbered  on 


244  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  criminal  docket  of  the  court.  The  case  was  entitled 
''The  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky  vs.  John  M.  Palmer." 
The  indictment  charged  John  M.  Palmer,  a  free  person, 
of  the  crime  of  aiding  a  slave  to  escape  and  in  attempt 
to  escape  from  her  owner  ;  he,  the  said  John  M.  Palmer, 
not  having  lawful  nor  in  good  faith  a  color  of  claim 
thereto  committed  in  manner  and  form,  as  follows,  to 
wit :  "That  the  said  John  M.  Palmer,  a  free  person  in 
said  county  of  Jefferson,  on  the  llth  day  of  May,  A.  D. 
1865,  with  force  and  arms,  feloniously  did  aid  and  assist 
a  slave  named  Ellen,  a  female  slave,  in  an  attempt  to 
make  her  escape  from  her  owner,  and  said  slave  being 
then  the  property  of  L.  R.  Womack,  by  making  and  is- 
suing an  order  dated,  'Headquarters  of  Department  of 
Kentucky,  May  11,  1865,  General  Order  No.  32,'  and 
commanding,  among  other  things,  that  the  provost  mar- 
shal of  the  post  of  Louisville,  upon  the  application  of 
any  colored  person  who  may  report  him  or  herself  as  un- 
able to  find  sufficient  employment  in  the  city  of  Louis- 
ville, to  issue  a  'pass'  to  said  colored  person,  and  for  his  or 
her  family  to  go  to  any  point  they  may  wish,  to  engage 
in  or  in  search  of  'employment.'  The  said  order  made 
it  the  duty  of  all  conductors  and  managers  of  railroads, 
steamboats  and  ferryboats  to  transfer  the  persons  named 
in  such  passes,  and  in  case  of  a  refusal  by  any  of  them, 
they  were  ordered  to  be  immediately  arrested  and  sent 
out  of  the  Department  of  Kentucky  or  punished  as  a 
military  court  might  adjudge  ;  the  said  John  M.  Palmer, 
being  at  that  time  the  commander  of  the  Department  of 
Kentucky,  and  a  major-general  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States.  And,  in  obedience  to  said  order,  the 
provost  marshal  of  the  post  of  Louisville  did,  on  May 
14,  1865,  in  Jefferson  county,  Kentucky,  issue  a  pass  to 
Ellen,  a  female  slave  owned  by  L.  R.  Womack,  to  go 
and  return  from  Jeffersonville,  Indiana,  and  by  means 
of  said  order  and  said  'pass,'  said  slave  did  attempt  to 
escape  and  did  escape  from  her  owner,  the  said  L.  R. 
Womack,"  contrary  to  the  statute.  Writs  of  capias  were 


14  DE  GOLDEN  CHARIOT,"  ETC.  245 

issued  on  the  indictment,  and  others,  which  were  found 
against  me  for  the  same  offense,  to  the  sheriff  of  Jeffer- 
son county,  and  the  sheriff,  Mr.  Ronalds,  called  on  me 
at  my  headquarters  and  told  me  that  he  had  the  writs 
in  his  possession.  I  said  to  the  sheriff,  "I  will  appear 
in  answer  to  the  writs,  or  you  may  execute  them  if  you 
think  proper.  I  cannot  command  a  department  through 
the  grates  of  a  jail,  and  I  have  therefore  issued  an  order 
to  General  Watkins,  if  you  arrest  me,  to  capture  the  jail 
and  release  me,  and  at  the  same  time  arrest  you  and 
such  of  the  grand  jury  as  he  can  find,  and  put  you  and  them 
in  my  place."  I  kept  my  promise  to  appear,  and  soon 
afterwards  appeared  in  answer  to  the  writs.  When  I 
offered  bail,  Judge  Johnston  told  me  my  personal  word 
was  sufficient  in  place  of  bail.  I  appeared  also  at  the 
December  term  of  the  court,  after  three-fourths  of  the 
states  had  ratified  the  Thirteenth  Constitutional  Amend- 
ment. The  action  of  Alabama  was  reported,  and  the 
only  question  was  whether  the  court  would  take  "judicial 
notice"  of  that  event  or  not.  The  commonwealth's  at- 
torney and  I  agreed  to  submit  the  case  upon  a  state- 
ment of  facts.  "It  was  agreed  by  the  commonwealth's 
attorney  that  Order  No.  32,  named  in  the  indictment, 
was  issued  by  General  Palmer  by  the  authority  of  the 
war  department,  and  that  said  order  has  been  approved ; 
that  at  the  time  said  order  was  issued,  General  Palmer 
was  the  commander  of  the  Department  of  Kentucky, 
being  assigned  to  that  command  by  the  president  of 
the  United  States  ;  that  General  Palmer  is  a  major-gen- 
eral of  volunteers,  and  said  attorney  admits  that  when 
said  order  was  issued,  martial  law  existed  in  Kentucky. 
Major-General  Palmer  admits  that  he  issued  said  order 
and  that  the  order  given  to  the  slave  mentioned  in  the 
indictment  was  given  by  the  provost  marshal  of  Louis- 
ville, and  the  indictment  against  Major-General  Palmer 
has  been  returned  by  the  grand  jury  since  Kentucky  was 
relieved  of  the  operation  of  martial  law,  and  that  Major- 
General  Palmer  is  still  the  commander  of  the  Depart- 


246  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

ment  of  Kentucky.  .  .  .  It  is  agreed  that  the  court 
may  dispose  of  all  the  legal  questions  arising  on  the  in- 
dictment, and  the  agreed  facts  upon  a  motion  to  quash 
the  indictment  and  discharge  General  Palmer." 

The  case  went  off  upon  a  point  not  covered  by  the 
agreed  state  of  facts,  for  Judge  Johnston  held  that  he 
would  take  judicial  notice  of  the  fact  that  the  State  of 
Alabama  had  adopted  the  thirteenth  amendment,  prohibit- 
ing slavery  in  the  United  States,  which  made  the  requisite 
number  (three-fourths  of  the  states) ,  and  that  with  the 
prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  United  States,  all  the  laws 
of  the  several  states  intended  for  its  support  fell  with  the 
institution,  and  that  therefore  the  indictment  should  be 
quashed. 

It  was  nearly  sundown  when  the  court  announced  its 
opinion,  and  upon  my  discharge  from  the  indictment,  I 
left  the  court  room  and  went  to  the  head  of  the  stairs 
overlooking  the  rotunda,  and  saw  it  crowded  with  ne- 
groes, who,  attracted  by  their  interest  in  the  case,  had 
come  into  the  hall  below  to  hear  the  final  result.  I  an- 
nounced the  end  of  the  case,  and  said  to  them  :  "A  Ken- 
tucky judge  has  declared  you  all  to  be  free — thank  him." 

They  answered  by  shouts,  and  for  a  few  minutes  I 
could  hear  nothing  more.  I  said  to  them  :  "Thank  Judge 
Johnston. "  Hundreds  of  them  followed  me  to  my  board- 
ing house,  where  I  was  compelled  to  address  them 
again. 

I  heard  them  during  the  afternoon  and  night  singing, 
using  all  kinds  of  musical  instruments,  even  to  the  "jews 
harp,"  for  a  crowd  serenaded  me  with  that  primitive 
abortion . 

They  have  in  Kentucky  a  peculiar  practice  which  au- 
thorizes the  commonwealth's  attorney  to  certify  the  in- 
dictment to  the  court  of  appeals,  which  corresponds  with 
the  supreme  court  in  other  states,  and  Mr.  Dupuy,  the 
commonwealth's  attorney,  who  had  treated  me  with 
great  politeness  during  the  argument,  on  motion  "to 
quash,"  caused  the  indictment  to  be  certified  to  the 


"  DE  GOLDEN  CHARIOT,"  ETC.  £47 

court  of  appeals  to  take  its  opinion  as  to  its  efficiency. 
Judge  George  Robertson,  with  whom  I  had  some  cor- 
respondence about  a  slave,  in  which  he  has  said  in  re- 
turn for  a  compliment  paid  to  him  by  me  :  "I  would  not 
think  of  asking  your  opinion  upon  any  question  of  divine 
law,  or  of  the  law  of  nations,  or  of  municipal  or  statute 
law,  but  martial  law  is  the  will  of  the  commander  of  the 
army,  interpreted  by  himself,  and  I  thought  it  proper  to 
ask  your  opinion  of  the  existing  condition  of  affairs  in 
Kentucky,  which  is  under  martial  law." 

He  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  court,  and  took  ad- 
vantage of  that  occasion  to  come  back  at  me.  He  said 
in  the  opinion  :  "As  well  might  the  defendant,  Palmer, 
if  he  had  stolen  a  horse,  have  said  that  the  horse  had  died 
before  the  indictment,  in  order  to  escape  punishment." 
I  give  my  lettter  to  Judge  Robertson,  which  was  dated: 

"HEADQUARTERS  OP  DEPARTMENT  OF  KENTUCKY, 

"LOUISVILLE,  July  95,  1865. 

"HoN.  GEORGE  ROBERTSON,  Sir — I  have  to  acknowl- 
edge the  receipt  of  yours  of  yesterday's  date,  and  will  as 
you  request  promptly  and  explicitly  respond. 

"You  state  at  some  length  the  circumstances  by  which 
you  acquired  Jackson  Jones  and  his  family,  and  permit  me 
to  say  they  are  creditable  to  your  character  for  humanity. 
But  I  think  it  would  complete  the  picture,  if,  after  fifteen 
year's  service  from  him,  you  would  say  to  the  whole  family, 
father  and  children  :  "Go  free  !"  He  may  be  a  liar  and 
a  thief,  and  the  fact  that  he  makes  two  dollars  a  day 
when  he  works  for  himself,  justifies  the  hope  that,  if  free, 
he  might  become  truthful  and  honest.  Slavery  is  an  in- 
different school  for  morals.  I  do  not  think  he  can  be 
compelled  to  leave  the  state.  He  is  a  native  of  Ken- 
tucky, and  has  perhaps,  some  of  that  attachment  for  his 
birth-place,  which  so  distinguishes  Kentuckians. 

"But  few  could  be  prevailed  to  emigrate,  unless  they 
could  be  induced  to  think  they  could  be  benefited  by  it. 
I  presume  your  want  of  success  in  your  efforts  to  induce 


248  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Jones  to  leave  is  attributable  to  the  fact  that  he  has  not 
been  made  to  comprehend  how  a  removal  can  benefit 
him.  I  can  give  him  a  'pass'  to  leave  the  state,  but  can- 
not, and  will  not,  compel  him  to  go.  If  he  is  a  bad 
man,  I  would  not  impose  him  upon  any  other  com- 
munity ;  if  a  good  man,  you  could  not  well  spare  him. 

"And  I  will  add,  that  you  need  apprehend  no  military 
interference  with  your  rightful  dominion  over  him.  I 
surely  will  not  hinder  him  from  voluntarily  submitting 
to  any  degree  of  dominion  you  may  choose  to  assert, 
and  you  may  do  with  the  two  boys  anything  the  law 
permits. 

"And,  doubting  of  my  ability  to  advise  a  judge  of  your 
standing  and  experience,  I  will  say  that  while  they  are 
in  your  family  you  ought  to  compel  them  to  submit  to 
your  rules.  All  children  are  benefited  by  being  taught 
habits  of  submission  to  rightful  authority. 

"I  am,  very  respectfully,  yours, 
"JoHN  M.  PALMER,  Major-General  Commanding.'" 

It  was  in  answer  to  this  letter  that  I  received  the  tart 
reply  above  mentioned.  My  attention  was  first  called 
to  the  importance  of  the  election  in  Kentucky  by  a  com- 
munication from  Governor  Bramlette,  which  I  answered 
July  15,  1865.  I  responded  to  the  governor,  and  said : 
"I  have  the  honor  to  receive  your  indorsement  upon  the 
letter  to  Mr.  Miller,  in  reference  to  protecting  the  polls 
at  the  approaching  election.  I  will  most  cheerfully  afford 
all  the  aid  within  my  power  to  the  officers  and  voters  of 
the  state,  in  enforcing  the  election  laws,  and  in  the  ar- 
rest of  all  persons  who  may  disregard  them.  Please 
furnish  me  copies  of  your  proclamation,  at  as  early  a 
day  as  possible,  as  my  order  to  my  subordinates  must 
refer  to  it  as  the  measure  of  their  duties."  The  gov- 
ernor having  furnished  me  copies  of  the  proclamation,  I 
issued  at  once  the  following  order,  No.  51 : 


"  DE  GOLDEN  CHARIOT,"  ETC.  249 

"HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OP  KENTUCKY, 

"LOUISVILLE,  KY.,  July  26,  1865. 

"The  near  approach  of  an  important  election,  to  be 
held  in  all  the  counties  of  the  state  and  military  Depart- 
ment of  Kentucky,  renders  it  proper,  in  the  judgment 
of  the  general  commanding,  to  require  all  officers  of  the 
state,  charged  by  law  with  the  duty  of  conducting  elec- 
tions, to  give  to  the  legal  voters  of  the  state  the  most 
complete  protection. 

"Martial  law  prevails  in  the  Department  of  Kentucky, 
and  certain  classes  of  persons  are  especially  under  mili- 
tary surveilance  and  control.  These  are  : 

"1.  The  Rebel  soldiers,  whether  paroled  or  not,  and 
without  regard  to  the  fact  that  they  have  or  have  not 
taken  any  of  the  oaths  prescribed  by  law,  executive  or 
military  orders,  or  if  registered  under  orders  from  the 
headquarters  of  the  Department  of  Kentucky. 

"2.  All  guerrillas  and  others  who,  without  belonging 
to  the  regular  Rebel  military  organizations,  have  taken 
up  arms  against  the  government  or  people  of  Kentucky 
or  any  other  state  or  territory. 

"3.  All  persons  who  by  act  of  war,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, gave  aid,  comfort  or  encouragement  to  persons  in 
rebellion.  (This  applies  to  all  persons  who  have  volun- 
tarily furnished  any  Rebel  force  or  person  with  informa- 
tion, food,  clothing,  horses,  arms  or  money,  or  have 
labored,  concealed  or  otherwise  aided  or  encouraged 
them.) 

"4.  All  deserters  from  the  military  or  naval  service 
of  the  United  States,  who  did  not  return  from  said  service 
or  report  themselves  to  some  provost  marshal  within 
sixty  days,  limited  in  the  proclamation  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  dated  March  11,  1865,  and  all 
persons  who  deserted  from  the  military  or  naval 
service  of  the  United  States  after  March  3,  1865,  and 
all  persons  duly  enrolled  who  departed  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  district  in  which  they  were  enrolled,  or  went 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  United  States  to  avoid  any  draft. 


250  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"All  persons  who  were  or  have  been,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, engaged  in  the  civil  service  of  the  so-called  Con^ 
federate  government,  or  the  so-called  Provisional  gov- 
ernment of  Kentucky,  or  who  have  in  any  way  voluntarily 
submitted  to  either  of  the  said  pretended  governments. 

"All  such  persons  are  disqualified  from  voting  by  the 
laws  of  the  State  of  Kentucky,  and  the  act  of  Congress 
of  March  3,  1865.  All  persons  of  the  classes  aforesaid, 
are  required  to  abstain  from  all  interference  with  the 
election,  and  will,  if  they  shall  in  any  manner  interfere 
therein  by  voting,  or  attempting  to  vote,  or  by  appearing 
at  the  polls,  be  at  once  arrested,  and  held  for  military 
trial.  Aid  will  be  given  to  the  civil  authorities  to  en- 
force the  law  and  preserve  the  peace.  Any  person  who 
shall  counsel,  advise,  or  encourage  any  judge  of  any 
election,  or  any  other  person,  to  disregard  or  disobey 
the  law  as  declared  in  the  proclamation  of  the  governor 
of  the  state,  will  be  at  once  arrested.  The  peace  of  the 
country  can  be  secured  only  by  obedience  to  the  law. 

"My  impressions  as  to  the  result  of  the  election  in  Ken- 
tucky were  communicated  to  Hon.  Charles  A.  Dana,  who 
was  at  this  time  conducting  the  'Republican'  newspaper, 
published  in  Chicago,  Illinois,  and  whom  I  had  known 
as  assistant  secretary  of  war,  operating  with  the  west- 
ern army.  I  said  to  him  : 

"  'My  impressions  as  to  the  results  are  against  the 
friends  of  the  constitutional  amendment ;  they  lack  mu- 
tual confidence  and  organization,  and  are  divided  by  the 
pretensions  of  individuals. 

"  'Rousseau,  who  is  a  candidate  for  the  house  in  this 
district  has  more  strength  for  the  senate  than  anybody 
else.  He  is  no  politician,  though  of  respectable  abili- 
ties. Bramlette  is  at  work  for  the  same  position,  and 
each  is  running  a  separate  machine.  I  hope,  and  believe, 
we  will  elect  as  follows  :  Yoeman,  second  district ;  Rous- 
seau, fifth  ;  Green  Clay  Smith,  sixth  ;  Randall,  eighth  ; 
McKee,  ninth.  We  have  a  bare  chance  to  elect  Lowrey 
in  the  third,  and  General  Fry  in  the  seventh.  We  shall 


"  DE  GOLDEN  CHARIOT,"  ETC.  251 

certainly  be  defeated  in  the  first  and  fourth  districts.  I 
must  also  confess  that  it  is  not  absolutely  certain  that 
we  will  elect  more  than  one  member  (Randall)  ;  all  the 
other  districts  are  close.  Our  friends  in  many  parts  of 
the  state  talk  confidently  of  carrying  the  legislature,  but 
I  see  no  such  indications  of  unity  and  energy  as  frees 
me  from  painful  doubts.' 

"By  the  way,  Governor  Bramlette's  proclamation  and 
my  Order  No.  51,  which  I  send  you,  may  do  much  good. 
If  they  keep  illegal  voters  from  the  polls,  much  good 
may  be  done.  Respectfully, 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

The  governor's  proclamation  and  my  order  did  not 
keep  illegal  voters  from  the  polls,  and  the  conservatives 
succeeded  in  electing  a  majority  of  both  branches  of  the 
legislature . 

Before  the  election,  on  Monday,  August  1,  1865,  I 
visited  Bowling  Green,  Russellville,  Elkton,  and  finally 
arrived  at  the  place  which  I  recollected  in  Christian 
county,  and  to  which  I  had  been  brought  when  but  lit- 
tle more  than  one  year  old.  While  in  the  neighborhood 
I  dined  with  Mrs.  Reuben  Radford,  when  she  insisted 
that  I  should  permit  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sears,  who  was  a 
Baptist  preacher,  to  return  to  the  State  of  Kentucky. 
He  had  been  expelled  from  the  state  for  sympathizing 
with  the  rebellion.  He  had  preached  a  sermon  in  Clarks- 
ville,  Tennessee,  in  which  he  had  said  that  the  "negroes 
were  mere  animals,  and  had  no  souls,  and  were  properly 
slaves  to  the  white  people."  Mrs.  Radford  did  not  be- 
lieve this  statement  to  be  true,  but  still  insisted  that 
Mr.  Sears  should  be  permitted  to  return.  Although  I 
desired  to  please  Mrs.  Radford,  as  an  old  friend,  I  did 
not  permit  Mr.  Sears  to  return  to  the  state.  My  visit  to 
Mrs.  Radford  was  one  of  great  interest  to  me.  While 
there,  I  went  to  the  old  home  place,  which  my  father 
had  sold  to  Mr.  Radford  in  1830,  and  went  to  the  house 
of  Mr.  Isaac  Garrett  to  spend  the  night.  I  arrived  at 


252  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  house  of  Mr.  Garrett  in  the  afternoon,  and  told  Mrs. 
Garrett  my  name,  but  she  was  so  frightened  at  my  uni- 
form and  my  escort,  which  consisted  of  ten  cavalrymen, 
that  she  did  not  recognize  me.  I  determined  to  leave 
the  house,  and  soon  afterwards  was  told  that  some  one 
was  running  to  overtake  me.  It  was  Mr.  Garrett,  and 
I  went  back  with  him.  It  was  said  of  him  that  he  was  the 
most  industrious  man  and  the  greatest  tobacco  raiser  in 
Southern  Kentucky  ;  that  he  laid  awake  on  Sunday  night 
after  attending  church  meeting  that  he  might  get  into  his 
tobacco  field  soon  after  midnight  on  Monday  morning. 

Mr.  Garrett  had  only  small  children,  and  in  order  to 
save  time,  he  used,  during  my  boyhood,  to  ask  me  to 
walk  with  him  and  tell  him  what  I  had  read  in  the  news- 
papers, while  he  "wormed"  and  "suckered"  the  to- 
bacco. At  the  time  of  my  visit,  he  repeated  to  me  many 
incidents  of  my  boyhood,  told  me  of  the  extent  of  his 
possessions,  and  informed  me  that,  though  he  was  rais- 
ing but  ten  acres  of  corn,  "he  was  not  as  poor  as  he 
seemed  to  be."  He  said  that  the  "entire  proceeds  of 
his  crops  of  tobacco,  worth  about  fifty  thousand  dollars 
in  gold,  was  in  New  York,  and  was  subject  to  his  order." 
He  called  me  "John,"  told  me  that  all  his  negroes  had 
left  him,  except  the  "old,  the  foolish  and  the  children." 
Before  I  left  him,  I  proposed  to  get  his  pardon  from  the 
president.  He  declined,  not  comprehending  why  he 
needed  pardon,  and  a  conversation  in  effect  as  follows 
took  place.  I  said,  "You  aided  the  rebellion  by  giving 
money  to  Woodard's  guerrillas,  did  you  not?"  "Yes," 
he  replied,  "I  gave  them  one  thousand  dollars,  because 
they  told  me  that  you  abolitionists  from  the  North  were 
coming  down  to  take  away  our  negroes,  and  I  wanted  to 
help  resist  you."  I  replied,  "You  are  worth  more  than 
twenty  thousand  dollars,  and  you  know  that  President 
Johnson  has  offered  a  pardon  to  those  who  will  take  the 
oath  and  are  worth  more  than  that  amount."  Still  he 
insisted  he  had  done  nothing  for  which  pardon  was 
necessary.  And  so  we  parted,  and,  as  I  learned  after- 


"  DE  GOLDEN  CHARIOT,"  ETC.  253 

wards,  the  man  who  had  his  money  in  New  York  ten- 
dered him  the  amount  in  greenbacks  instead  of  gold, 
which,  with  his  other  troubles,  so  preyed  upon  his  mind 
that  he  died  soon  afterwards  in  the  insane  hospital  at 
Hopkins  ville. 

Before  July  29th,  it  was  reported  to  the  president  by 
a  Mr.  Price  that  "provost marshals  issue  'free  papers'  to 
negroes  indiscriminately."  In  a  communication  to  the  I 
president,  I  said,  "I  have  already  acknowledged  your' 
dispatch  of  yesterday,  containing  a  copy  of  a  dispatch 
from  Mr.  Price,  which  states  that  'provost  marshals 
issue  free  papers  to  negroes  indiscriminately.'  I  refer 
you  to  my  dispatch,  in  which  I  say,  'No  free  papers  are 
issued  by  any  officer  in  this  department,'  which,  though 
literally  true,  does  not  quite  meet  the  facts  as  they  are. 
I  forward  you  my  General  Orders  Nos.  32  and  49." 
Under  these  orders,  many  passes  have  been  issued  by 
provost  marshals  and  others  to  negroes  who  hold  them, 
and  I  am  told  that  in  many  cases  they  regard  and  act 
upon  them  as  "free  papers."  The  reasons  for  issuing 
Order  No.  32  will  be  found  upon  the  face  of  the  order, 
but  the  reasons  which  influenced  the  mayor  and  his 
friends  to  apply  to  me  do  not.  Large  numbers  of  ne- 
groes were  then  in  Louisville  from  the  surrounding 
country,  who  had  escaped  from  or  had  repudiated  the 
authority  of  their  masters.  The  mayor  and  others  de- 
sired my  approval  of  a  plan  they  had  arranged  for  the 
general  enforcement  of  the  laws  against  vagrancy,  and 
the  law  which  forbids  slaves  to  go  at  large  and  hire 
themselves  out  as  free  persons.  To  have  enforced  these 
laws  would  have  produced  great  misery  and  alarm 
amongst  the  blacks.  To  leave  the  negroes  in  the  city 
would  have  alarmed  the  fears  of  the  citizens,  who  were 
beforehand  taught  to  think  their  presence  would  cause 
a  pestilence.  They  sought  to  make  me  responsible  for 
either  consequence.  To  avoid  both,  I  issued  Order  No. 
32.  Under  it  over  five  thousand  negroes  have  crossed 
the  river  at  this  place  alone. 


254  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Before  the  Fourth  of  July,  an  impression  had  got 
abroad  amongst  the  negroes  throughout  the  state  that  on 
that  day  they  were  all  to  be  made  free.  Influenced  by 
that  belief,  thousands  of  them  left  their  masters'  houses 
and  came  into  our  posts  at  different  points  in  the  state. 
Every  nook  and  hiding-place,  at  such  places  as  Louis- 
ville, Camp  Nelson,  Lexington,  Frankfort,  Bowling- 
green,  Mumfordsville  and  other  places,  was  filled  with 
them.  They  were  without  work  or  means,  and  the 
greater  the  number  and  the  more  destitute  they  were, 
the  more  the  people  resisted  employing  them.  I  was 
compelled,  from  these  causes,  to  issue  General  Order  No. 
49,  and  the  "free  papers,"  referred  to  in  the  telegram  of 
Mr.  Price,  are  merely  passes  issued  under  those  orders. 
I  have  been  greatly  embarrassed  in  respect  to  the  colored 
people  by  the  acts  and  declarations  of  politicians  and 
press  in  the  anti-administration  interests.  They  have 
given  the  negroes  extravagant  ideas  of  the  purposes  of 
the  government  by  announcing  in  their  speeches  and 
columns  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  government  to 
free  them  all,  furnish  them  with  food  and  clothing, 
and  put  them  upon  an  equality  with  the  whites.  In- 
variably a  conservative  gathering  in  the  neighborhood 
is  followed  by  a  stampede  of  negroes. 

"I  think,  and  respectfully  submit,  that  it  is  impos- 
sible under  the  existing  state  of  facts  here  to  recognize 
the  laws  of  the  state  in  reference  to  slaves  and  slavery. 
"At  the  beginning  of  the  war  Ken- 
tucky had  about  two  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  slaves,  say,       .  230,000 

"Our  reports   show  number   of   negro 

enlistments,  *         •         •          28,818 

"Estimated  number  of  women  and 
children  freed  by  resolution  or  act 
of  congress  of  March  3,  1865,  72,045  —  100,863 

Balance,         .      /,         .         .  129,137 

"One  half  of  this  residue  are  presumed  to  have  be- 


"DE  GOLDEN  CHARIOT,"  ETC.  255 

longed  to  Rebels,  and  are  therefore  free.  From  this 
small  number  ought  still  to  be  taken  a  percentage  for 
the  thousands  who  have  escaped  from  the  state.  For 
the  sake  of  keeping  the  small  number  in  subjection  to 
masters,  the  whole  race  in  the  state  are  most  cruelly 
oppressed  and  outraged  under  colors  of  laws  which 
render  freedom  to  a  negro  in  Kentucky  impossible.  I 
have  felt  it  my  duty  to  give  protection  to  this  large  free 
population  as  far  as  posssble,  but  in  doing  so  I  have  on 
occasions  been  compelled  to  do  acts  which  in  effect 
greatly  impair  the  tenure  of  the  small  number  of  per- 
sons who  are  still  technically  masters  of  slaves.  Indeed, 
it  must  be  admitted  that  many  slaves  left  the  state  un- 
der orders  Nos.  32  and  49,  which  are  inclosed,  and  every 
decision  I  make  in  favor  of  a  negro  seems  to  start  a  host 
of  individual  cases  which  come  within  the  same  prin- 
ciple. In  short,  slavery  has  no  actual  existence  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  if  the  constitutional  amendment  is  defeated 
at  the  election,  the  whole  active  colored  population  will 
fly,  unless  I  employ  the  troops  to  prevent  it,  and  you 
have  not  and  will  not  be  likely  to  order  that  to  be  done. 

"To  illustrate  the  effects  of  any  fair  rule  upon  the 
status  of  slavery  in  Kentucky,  I  will  advert  to  the  effect 
of  one  rule  which  I  am  compelled  to  recognize  and  ob- 
serve. By  the  laws  of  Kentucky,  laws  once  when  all 
were  slaves  just  enough  in  their  application,  all  negroes 
were  presumed  to  be  slaves ;  a  large  majority  are  cer- 
tainly free.  To  presume  slavery  from  color  alone  is  con- 
trary to  justice.  To  presume  freedom  without  regard  to 
color,  and  give  protection  accordingly,  is  to  end  slavery. 

"I  am  often  called  on  to  afford  protection  where  there 
is  no  proof  at  hand,  and  am  compelled  to  presume  one 
way  or  another.  * 

"I  submit  these  difficulties  to  meet  some  of  the  com- 
plaints which  will  probably  reach  you  from  the  loyal 
people  of  Kentucky. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be,  etc., 

"JoHN  M.  PALMER,  Maj.-Gen.  Com'd'g." 


£56  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

Judge  Johnston  decided  on  December  5,  1865,  that 
the  court  would  take  judicial  notice  that  the  requisite 
number  of  states  had  assented  to  the  Thirteenth  Amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  de- 
cision was  undoubtedly  right.  I,  therefore,  on  the  seventh 
day  of  the  same  month  announced  the  adoption  of  the 
amendment  and  that  slavery  was  ended  in  Kentucky. 

"HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OF  KENTUCKY, 

"December  7,  1865. 
"CIRCULAR  No.  6. 

"The  general  commanding  announces  that  though  the 
fact  has  not  been  officially  announced,  enough  is  known 
to  warrant  the  statement  that  the  amendment  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  prohibiting  slavery 
has  been  ratified  by  the  legislatures  of  three-fourths  of 
the  states,  and  is  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  part  of 
said  constitution. 

"Whatever  doubts  may  have  hitherto  existed  on  the 
subject,  slavery  has  now  ceased  to  exist  in  Kentucky, 
and  with  it  fall  all  the  laws  of  the  state  heretofore  in 
force  intended  for  its  support. 

"JoHN  M.  PALMER,  Maj-Gen.  Com'd'g." 

On  the  llth  day  of  December,  Mr.  Allen,  an  influential 
member  of  the  house  of  representatives  from  Brecken- 
ridge  county,  introduced  in  the  house  resolutions  cover- 
ing several  subjects,  but  one  of  the  resolutions  attacked 
me  for  issuing  the  order  before  mentioned.  Its  language 
was  that :  "Whereas,  the  people  of  Kentucky  have  been 
informed  in  a  proclamation  which  issued  from  the  head- 
quarters of  General  Palmer,  commanding  in  the  depart- 
ment of  this  Common  wealth,  that  the  requisite  number 
of  states  having  voted  in  favor  of  it,  the  amendment  of 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States  has  been  adopted, 
\  and  that  slavery  no  longer  exists  in  Kentucky.  Against 
this  amendment,  and  against  this  mutilation  of  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  we,  the  members  of  the 


"  DE  GOLDEN  CHARIOT,"  ETC.  257 

general  assembly  of  the  commonwealth  of  Kentucky,  be- 
fore the  people  of  the  nation  earnestly  and  solemnly  pro- 
test. We  protest  against  the  proclamation  of  the  gen- 
eral commanding,  as  a  piece  of  presumption.  Martial 
law  having  been  removed  from  the  state,  all  informa- 
tion of  national  interest  should  be  communicated  to  the 
people  of  the  state  by  the  executive  officer  thereof,  who 
no  doubt  at  the  proper  time  will  give  them  information." 

Mr.  Allen  must  have  known  that  the  amendment  to 
the  constitution  took  effect  from  and  after  its  adoption 
by  the  requisite  number  of  states,  and  that  my  "procla- 
mation" was-  directed  to  others,  rather  than  to  the  legis- 
lature of  the  state. 

Mr.  Buckner,  of  Clark  county,  introduced  resolutions, 
one  of  which  denounced  my  election  orders  as  a  "gross 
violation  of  the  act  of  congress  to  prevent  military  inter- 
ference in  elections, ' '  while  Mr.  Cochran,who  volunteered 
to  argue  the  motion  against  me  to  quash  the  indictment, 
called  in  question  a  communication  written  by  me  to  the 
"Louisville  Journal."  This  led  to  the  following  corres- 
pondence : 

"FRANKFORT,  KY.,  Feb.  15,  1866. 

"Sir — The  undersigned  committee  appointed  on  be- 
half of  the  senate  of  Kentucky,  for  the  purpose  indicated 
by  the  resolutions,  a  copy  of  which  is  inclosed,  respect- 
fully request  you  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  reso- 
lutions, and  that  you  will  at  your  earliest  opportunity 
give  the  information  called  for  in  the  resolutions.  If 
such  a  state  of  things  exists  as  referred  to,  it  is  time  that 
the  legislature  should  take  some  action  for  the  remedy 
thereof.  We  hope,  therefore  that  you  will  comply  with 
the  wish  of  the  senate.  Yours,  most  respectfully, 

"T.    B.    COCHRAN, 

"W.  H.  GRAINGER, 
"M.  J.  COOK. 

"To  Major-General  John  M.  Palmer,  Louisville." 
17 


258  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

I  answered  as  follows  : 

"HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OP  KENTUCKY, 

"LOUISVILLE,  KY.,  Feb.  15,  1866. 

"HoN.  T.  B.  COCHRAN,  W.  H.   GRAINGER  AND  M.  J. 
COOK,  Com.  of  the  Senate  of  Kentucky: 

' '  Gentlemen — In  accordance  with  the  request  contained 
in  your  note  of  the  15th  inst.,  addressed  to  me,  I  ac- 
knowledge the  receipt  of  a  copy  of  the  preamble  and 
resolution  which  you  inform  me  were  adopted  by  the 
senate  of  Kentucky,  and  by  which  you  are  appointed  to 
respectfully  demand  certain  information.  I  have  read 
the  paper  adopted  by  the  senate  with  great  attention, 
and  in  view  of  its  language,  am  compelled  by  a  sense  of 
what  is  due  to  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and 
myself  and  its  military  representative  in  this  depart- 
ment, to  decline  all  intercourse  or  communication  with 
you  as  a  committee  of  that  body. 

"The  Kentucky  senate  has  its  own  duties  to  perform, 
and  I  have  mine,  and  it  must  be  left  to  the  loyal  and 
patriotic  people  of  the  state  to  decide  whether  a  body 
which  offensively  declares  its  disbelief  of  the  truth  of  the 
statements  of  a  public  officer,  and  then  demands  the  evi- 
dence upon  which  those  statements  are  made,  intended 
to  insult  him,  and  excite  popular  prejudice  against  the 
government  he  represents,  or  were  influenced  by  any 
purpose  to  promote  the  public  good. 

"Accept  my  thanks  for  the  courteous  manner  in  which 
you  have  discharged  your  duties,  and  allow  me  to  assure 
you  that  it  will  afford  me  pleasure  to  lay  before  you  as 
private  gentlemen  and  citizens,  the  numerous  letters  and 
official  reports  which  furnish  material  for  all  the  state- 
ments contained  in  my  letter  published  in  the  Lonisville 
Journal. 

"With  great  respect  for  each  of  you  personally,  I  am, 
etc.  JOHN  M.  PALMER,  Major-General." 


"DE  GOLDEN  CHARIOT,"  ETC.  259 

"HEADQUARTERS  OP  DEP'T  OF  KENTUCKY, 

"April  29,  1865. 
"CIRCULAR  No.  3. 

"The  functions  of  the  civil  courts  in  this  department 
being  to  an  extent  suspended  by  martial  law,  makes  it 
the  duty  of  every  officer  to  be  scrupulously  observant  of 
public  and  individual  rights,  and  to  afford  as  far  as 
possible  complete  protection  to  the  people.  The  power 
of  arrest  will  hereafter  be  sparingly  exercised  and  di- 
rected against  real  offenders. 

"There  is  no  longer  in  this  department,  hostile  to  the 
government,  an  organization  which  deserves  to  be  char- 
acterized as  military.  The  bands  now  prowling  about 
through  the  country  are  simply  guerrillas  and  robbers, 
and  are  to  be  treated  as  such.  They  will  be  allowed  to 
surrender  for  trial.  All  the  loyal  people  of  this  depart- 
ment are  to  be  protected,  without  regard  to  color  or 
birthplace. 

"Complaint  reaches  these  headquarters  of  the  beating 
of  men  and  women  for  claiming  the  benefit  of  the  'am- 
nesty oath,'  and  the  acts  of  congress  freeing  the  slaves 
of  all  persons  who  have  been  in  rebellion  against  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  or  who  have  aided  or 
given  comfort  to  those  in  rebellion,  and  in  the  joint  reso- 
lution freeing  the  wives  and  children  of  enlisted  men  and 
others,  who  have  acquired  rights  under  the  laws,  execu- 
tive proceedings,  and  orders  referred  to,  are  free,  and 
whether  free  or  not  are  to  be  protected  from  cruelty  and 
oppression. 

"In  all  cases  where  the  state  of  the  country  and  the 
organizations  and  rules  of  the  civil  tribunals  will  permit 
them  to  enforce  justice  and  punish  crime,  offenders 
against  local  laws  will  be  handed  over  to  them  for 
trial.  In  no  case,  however,  will  any  person,  or  court 
martial,  be  allowed  to  deprive  any  one  of  his,  or  her, 
liberty  who  is  within  the  terms  of  any  of  the  acts, 
resolutions,  proclamations,  or  orders,  above  referred  to, 
or  to  harass  by  proscription,  or  otherwise,  those  who 


260  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

may  assist  them  in  earning  a  support   or  maintaining 
their  rights. 

"By  command  of  Major-General  John  M.  Palmer. 
"J.  BATES  DICKSON,  Captain  and  A.  A.  G." 

Copy  of  letter  to  Judge  Trumbull : 

"HEADQUARTERS  OP  DEP'T  OF  KENTUCKY, 

"January  4, 1866. 

"HoN.  L.  TRUMBULL:  My  Dear  Sir — I  inclose  you  a 
copy  of  a  petition  which  is  being  extensively  circulated 
here  for  the  signatures  of  the  colored  people  of  this  city, 
and  will  be  presented  to  the  Kentucky  legislature.  I 
prepared  the  paper  for  them  as  a  quiet,  modest  demand 
for  the  recognition  of  the  essential  rights  of  the  freed 
people,  seeking  to  avoid  language  which  could  be  tortured 
to  the  purpose  of  prejudice  and  at  the  same  time  escape 
disgraceful  imputation  of  servility.  Still  I  have  such 
moderate  hopes  that  it  may  be  favorably  received  by 
the  legislature,  that  I  have  advised  them  to  look  to  con- 
gress and  prepare  a  petition  for  its  consideration.  You 
will  perceive  that  the  first  point  presented  by  the  peti- 
tion is  that  of  residence  in  the  state,  or  citizenship,  if 
that  form  of  expression  is  preferred. 

"Chapter  XV  Revised  Statutes  of  Kentucky,  in  all  its 
provisions,  limits  citizenship  to  free  white  persons.  The 
laws  passed  in  pursuance  of  a  requirement  of  the  con- 
stitution compels,  or  it  is  intended  to  compel,  all  eman- 
cipated persons  to  leave  the  state,  and  Article  2,  Chapter 
XCIII,  Revised  Statutes,  Vol.  11,  pages  306-7,  declares 
that,  'Any  free  negro  or  mulatto  who  has  since  June  11, 
1850,  migrated,  or  shall  hereafter  migrate,  to  this  state 
with  the  intention  of  remaining  here,  shall  be  guilty  of 
felony,  and  upon  conviction  shall  be  confined  in  the 
penitentiary  for  any  period  of  time  not  exceeding  five 
years.'  The  whole  article  is  like  this,  in  barbarity  and 
injustice,  and  will  in  some  parts  of  the  state  be  rigor- 
ously enforced.  I  trust  your  bill,  to  which  I  have  seen 


"  DE  GOLDEN  CHARIOT,"  ETC.  261 

telegraphic  references,  repeals  these  and  similar  laws. 
I  suggest  that  they  may  be  defeated  by  an  act  of  con- 
gress declaring  all  persons  of  African  descent  born  in 
the  United  States,  or  in  any  of  the  territories,  or  in  any 
place  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  or 
in  any  of  the  territories,  or  in  any  place  subject  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  to  be  citizens. 

"By  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  congress 
has  power  to  establish  a  uniform  rule  of  naturalization, 
and  this  power  is  exclusive  of  that  of  the  individual 
state  (Kent's  Com.,  Vol.  1,  p.  424;  2  Wheaton's  Rep. 
269)  ;  and  it  is  also  true,  that  congress  has  by  law 
naturalized,  or  citizenized,  certain  people  in  gross  (see 
act  of  March  3,  1843,  with  respect  to  Stockbridge  In- 
dians, Stat.  at  Large,  Vol.  5,  p.  647)  ;  and  instances  of 
collective  naturalization  by  the  treaty-making  power  are 
numerous,  as  in  the  case  of  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana, 
April  3, 1800,  and  purchase  of  Florida,  1819,  treaty  with 
Mexico,  1848,  and  by  joint  resolution  of  congress,  as  in 
the  annexation  of  Texas,  March  1,  1845. 

"If  the  freedmen  are  declared  by  law  to  be  citizens, 
the  legal  consequences  of  citizenship  follow,  and  defeat 
the  injurious  operation  of  the  laws  already  referred  to.  I 
am  aware  that  there  are  many  jurists  and  publicists  who 
entertain  the  opinion  that  the  freed  people  of  African 
descent  are  now,  in  point  of  law,  citizens  of  the  United 
States.  This  may  be  the  correct  view  of  the  subject, 
but  there  is  a  formidable  array  of  authorities  on  the 
other  side,  and  it  is  certain  that  the  courts,  if  the  ques- 
tion is  left  in  its  present  state  of  doubt,  will  hesitate, 
falter,  and  decide  both  ways  for  years  to  come.  A  few 
words  of  legislation  will  remove  all  doubt,  and,  what  is 
more,  will  place  the  colored  race  in  the  class  of  free  men, 
whose  political  and  legal  rights  are  so  carefully  secured 
and  guarded  by  many  provisions  of  the  federal  state 
constitutions.  I  attach  great  consequence  to  this  idea, 
for  most  of  the  oppressive  legislation  of  the  state  pro- 
ceeds upon  the  theory  that  the  negroes  are  not  members 


262  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

of  the  political  society,  and  are  not  referred  to  or 
protected  by  the  constitutional  provisions.  They  are 
elaborations  of  the  amiably  expressed,  but  damnably 
conceived  doctrine,  that  we  find  so  often  adopted  by 
meetings  of  those  political  bastards  who  call  themselves 
Democrats,  that  'this  is  a  white  man's  government' — 
which  means  that  a  thief  may  be  a  Christian,  if  he 
only  steals  a  negro. 

"The  second  point  presented  by  this  petition,  is  that 
of  protection.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  under  the 
general  duty  imposed  upon  the  United  States  by  the 
constitution  to  guarantee  to  each  of  the  states  a  repub- 
lican form  of  government,  congress  may,  and  ought  to, 
provide  for  the  states  which  are  subverted  a  temporary 
government,  that  ought  to  be  adequate  in  its  powers  to 
the  protection  of  the  people  in  all  their  essential 
rights.  Upon  this  ground,  and  this  only,  pro  tempore 
governments  have  been  organized  in  the  states  whose 
governments  were  subverted  and  overthrown  by  rebellion. 
These  temporary  governments  possessed  only  such  pow- 
ers as  the  United  States  conferred  upon  them,  and 
these  powers  are  deposited  in  the  hands  of  its  agents. 
I  have  always  supposed  a  portion  of  the  powers  of  such 
governments  might  as  well,  in  point  of  law,  have  been 
deposited  with  the  colored  population,  or  a  part  of  it,  as 
with  civil  and  military  officers,  or  with  that  part  of  the 
white  people  selected  by  the  government  of  the  United 
States  for  the  purpose.  I  need  not  argue  this,  nor  any 
thing  else,  in  support  of  the  assertion  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  United  States  under  the  constitution  to  organize, 
put  in  force,  and  maintain,  in  states  where  government 
is  subverted  by  rebellion,  an  effective  government,  and 
that  in  doing  so  it  must  deposit  the  powers  of  these  gov- 
ernments with  agents  of  its  own.  This,  I  think,  is 
the  true  theory  in  case  of  a  partial  subversion,  or  par- 
tial destruction  of  the  state  government.  Such  partial 
subversion,  or  partial  destruction  of  the  state  govern- 


"  DE  GOLDEN  CHARIOT,"  ETC.  263 

ment,  is  that  it  becomes  incapable  of  fulfilling  the  ends 
for  which  governments  are  ordained  amongst  men. 

''The  people  of  Kentucky  organized  a  system  of  gov- 
ernment for  the  white  population  of  the  state,  which 
they  supposed  to  be  adequate  to  all  their  rights,  which 
in  terms  excludes  negroes  from  any  part  or  participation 
in  its  benefits,  and  expressly  refers  the  government  of 
that  whole  race  to  another  system,  which  is  known  as 
'slavery,'  and  thus  slavery  is  made  part  of  the  govern- 
mental system  of  the  state,  comprehending  and  provid- 
ing for  the  African  and  mixed  races.  Slavery,  that  part 
of  the  system  intended  for  these  classes,  is  subverted 
and  overthrown,  and  the  duty  of  the  United  States  results, 
to  provide  for  a  temporary  government  for  those  left  by 
this  subversion  without  government. 

"It  has  discharged  this  duty  so  far  through  the  agency 
of  the  military  officers  and  the  freedman's  bureau,  and 
it  may  and  ought  to  continue  to  do  so  in  some  effective 
way  until  the  state  governments  comprehend  them 
within,  and  give  them  the  protection  of,  their  general 
political  system.  I  think  a  law  of  congress  declaring 
them  to  be  citizens  of  the  United  States,  would  be  a  long 
step  in  the  right  direction.  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
states  in  excluding  the  negroes  from  their  own  system 
of  government,  disclaim  the  only  ground  of  and  decline 
jurisdiction  over  them,  and  necessarily,  now  that  slavery, 
the  only  government  provided  for  them,  is  subverted, 
refer  this  whole  class  of  persons  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  United  States.  The  state  governments  do  not  govern 
and  protect  them  as  free  men,  and  the  states  are  for- 
bidden by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  to  govern 
them  as  slaves.  They  have  a  natural  right  resulting 
from  their  relations  to  the  government  as  subjects,  or 
citizens,  to  demand  the  benefit  of  the  government,  and 
their  interests,  as  I  maintain,  are  protected  by  the  con- 
stitutional guarantee.  I  think  that  the  legimate,  prac- 
tical consequences  are  : 


264  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"1.  That  so  much  of  the  governmental  system  of 
Kentucky  as  relates  to  the  African  race  is  subverted. 

"2.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  congress  to  organize  gov- 
ernment which  shall  supply  the  subverted  powers  of  the 
state  government. 

"3.  That  the  powers  of  the  temporary  government 
must  be  precisely  in  its  scope  limited  to  the  government 
of  the  people,  who  are  left  without  government  by  the 
subversion  of  slavery,  but  equal  in  its  power  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  object  of  government. 

"4.  That  this  government  thus  organized  must  be 
temporarily  limited  in  its  duration  to  the  period  when 
the  states  shall  by  an  appropriate  action  provide  for  this 
people  a  republican  government. 

"5.  That  the  government  of  the  United  States  must 
judge  for  itself  before  it  can  be  required  to  give  way  to 
the  action  of  the  states,  whether  the  rights  of  the 
colored  people  are  sufficiently  secured  and  protected 
or  not. 

"6.  That  it  ought,  before  it  abandons  the  government 
of  these  people  to  the  states,  secure  for  them  beyond 
question  'equality  before  law.' 

"Respectfully,  etc. 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

"HEADQUARTERS  OF  DEP'T  OF  KENTUCKY. 
"February  19,  1866. 

"ADJUTANT-GENERAL  U.  S.  ARMY  :  Sir — The  atten- 
tion of  the  government  is  respectfully  called  to  the  fact 
that  I  have  this  day  tendered  my  resignation  as  major- 
general  of  volunteers,  to  take  effect  on  the  first  day  of 
April,  1866,  and  requested  to  be  at  once  relieved  from 
the  command  of  this  department. 

"In  connection  with  my  resignation,  I  beg  to  call  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  there  are  now  four  suits  pending 
against  me  in  the  civil  courts  held  in  Kentucky,  for  acts 
done  in  the  course  of  my  duty  as  commander  in  this  de- 
partment, demanding  an  aggregate  of  damages  to  the 


"  DE  GOLDEN  CHARIOT,"  ETC.  265 

amount  of  seventy  thousand  dollars.  These  suits  are  as 
follows : 

"1.  Garrett  Davis  vs.  John  M.  Palmer  and  the  Ken- 
tucky Central  R.  R.  Co.  Bourbon  Circuit  Court.  Pro- 
cess returnable  first  Monday  in  April,  1866.  Damages, 
$10,000. 

"2.  Brutus  J.  Clay  vs.  John  M.  Palmer  and  the  Ken- 
tucky R.  R.  Co.  Bourbon  Circuit  Court.  Process  re- 
turnable first  Monday  in  April,  1866.  Damages, 
$40,000. 

"These  suits  are  instituted  to  recover  the  value  of 
certain  negro  slaves  who  are  alleged  to  have  escaped 
and  were  transported  by  the  railroad  company  by  passes 
issued  by  the  provost  marshal  of  Paris,  Kentucky,  under 
General  Orders  Nos.  32  and  49,  copies  of  which  are  here- 
with enclosed. 

"3.  Jesse  H.  Hall  vs.  John  M.  Palmer  et  als.  Har- 
rison Circuit  Court,  May  1,  1866.  Suit  for  false  impris- 
onment. It  is  not  alleged  that  I  had  anything  to  do 
personally  and  had  had  no  personal  knowledge  of  this 
arrest,  but  Mr.  Garrett  Davis,  counsel  for  plaintiff, 
seeks  to  charge  me  upon  some  idea  that,  as  commander 
of  the  negro  troops,  I  am  responsible  for  all  their  acts. 
Damages,  $10,000. 

"4.  Galloway  vs.  John  M.  Palmer — false  imprisonment. 
The  plaintiff  was  arrested  in  July,  1865,  for  expelling  a 
colored  woman  from  the  cars.  This  arrest  was  to  check 
the  numerous  outrages  perpetrated  at  will  upon  the  ne- 
groes in  all  parts  of  the  state.  The  imprisonment  was 
only  nominal,  and  the  party  was  brought  before  me  and 
then  discharged. 

"It  will  be  seen  that  these  suits  cannot  be  disposed  of 
at  once,  and  that  to  defend  them  will  involve  the  ex- 
penditure of  much  time.  I  have  defended  with  success 
other  suits  brought  against  me  here  without  expense  to 
the  government,  having  paid  all  needful  costs  from  my 
own  pocket,  and  given  them  my  personal  attention. 


266  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"I  have  to  request  that  the  defense  of  these  suits  be 
undertaken  by  the  government." 

I  forwarded  this  letter  to  the  adjutant-general  with  my 
resignation,  which  I  requested  might  take  effect  on  April 
1,  1866.  The  government  took  charge  of  the  suits  against 
me,  and  indemnified  me  against  costs. 


THE  GUERRILLAS.  267 


CHAPTER  XX. 

The  guerrillas — Killing  of  Marion — Capture  of  "Sue  Mundy  " — Mar-, 
gruder  and  Medkiff — Sentence  of  Davis  and  Berry — Mrs.  Smith  and 
Miss  Bailey — Feeding  the  guerrillas. 

Kentucky  was  cursed  at  the  time  I  assumed  command 
of  the  department  by  the  presence  of  "Sue  Mundy" 
(Jerome  Clark) ,  Marion,  Magruder  and  Quantrell,  who 
finally  came  into  the  state,  and  others. 

Much  was  expected  of  me  in  the  suppression  of  the 
guerrillas.  The  Louisville  Journal  said:  "The  guer- 
rillas, we  apprehend,  have  had  their  day  in  Kentucky, 
a  long  and  a  stormy  one  to  be  sure,  even  without  Con- 
federate cooperation.  General  Palmer,  we  are  confident, 
will  soon  clear  our  state  of  the  bloody  and  spoil-laden 
wretches  who  seem  likely  to  have  Confederate  co-opera- 
tion of  the  most  effective  kind." 

General  Burbridge,  who  had  preceded  me  in  command 
of  the  district  of  Kentucky,  before  it  was  made  a  de- 
partment, had  attempted  to  terrify  the  guerrillas  by 
hanging  their  friends.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  selecting 
four,  by  lot  from  his  military  prison,  and  having  taken 
them  near  to  the  scene  of  the  outrage,  hang  them.  I 
chose  to  pursue  a  different  course,  and  made  war  upon 
the  guerrillas  personally.  For  example,  the  guerrilla 
Marion  having  sent  me  notice  that  he  had  captured  Dr. 
Montgomery  Miller,  assistant  surgeon  of  one  of  the  In- 
diana regiments,  and  would  hang  him  unless  Medkiff  or 
Magruder,  who  were  both  in  the  military  prison,  should 
be  discharged.  I  issued  an  order  dated  April  11,  1865, 
that  "neither  Medkiff  nor  Magruder  will  be  discharged, 
but  will  be  tried,  and  if  found  guilty  of  acts  contrary  to 
the  rules  of  civilized  warfare,  will  be  punished  accord- 
ingly ;  and  upon  reliable  information  that  Dr.  Miller  has 
been  injured,  both  will  be  executed  at  once.  The  above 


268  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

notice  is  given  at  the  request  of  Marion  that  an  answer 
be  returned  through  the  newspapers." 

I  notified  Mr.  Lindsay,  adjutant-general  of  the, state, 
that  "Captain  Terrell  is  acting  under  orders  from  these 
headquarters,  and  that  he  belongs  to  the  police  force  of 
this  department."  When  I  got  this  notice  from  Marion, 
I  determined  that  he  should  be  captured  or  killed.  I 
immediately  proceeded  by  rail  to  Eminence,  Kentucky, 
and  found  Terrell  there,  having  sent  him  word  to  meet 
me.  Terrell  had  killed  an  officer  of  his  regiment  (Con- 
federate) when  serving  in  Virginia,  and  his  followers 
were  not  much  better  than  Marion.  From  Eminence,  I 
telegraphed  to  the  adjutant-general  of  the  department, 
ordering  Major  Wilson,  late  of  the  4th  Kentucky,  to  pro- 
ceed, with  one  company  of  the  30th  Wisconsin,  on  the 
Bardstown  pike,  in  order  to  create  a  diversion  in  Ter- 
rell's favor,  and  to  help  him  in  case  it  was  necessary. 
A  few  days  afterwards,  General  Harlan  reported  that 
Terrell  was  "in  front  of  my  headquarters  with  Marion." 
I  went  to  the  front,  and  found  that  Terrell  had  killed 
Marion,  had  loaded  his  body  on  the  Bardstown  railroad 
and  brought  him  in.  He  had  rescued  Dr.  Miller  from 
his  peril.  Terrell  was  an  exceedingly  dangerous  man  ; 
I  never  let  him  enter  my  quarters  without  keeping  a  re- 
volver at  hand. 

Afterwards,  Porter,  who  was  the  successor  of  Quan- 
trell,  came  into  my  headquarters,  and  proposed  terms  of 
surrender.  I  told  him  that  the  guerrillas  must  surren- 
der for  trial ;  that  I  would  see  them,  and  if  my  terms 
were  not  satisfactory,  I  would  not  detain  them,  but  they 
should  have  twenty-four  hours  of  grace  to  return  to  the 
place  from  whence  they  came,  but  that  I  would  keep  up 
the  war  on  them. 

In  the  meantime,  an  affair  had  occurred  near  Bards- 
town, which  I  characterized  as  an  "infamous  outrage," 
and  in  consequence  of  which  I  issued  "Special  Order 
No.  64,"  in  which  I  said  :  "Satisfactory  evidence  having 
been  furnished  the  general  commanding  that  an  in- 


THE  GUERRILLAS.  269 

famous  outrage  was  committed  on  the  person  of  a  lady 
living  near  Bardstown  by  certain  scoundrels  who  pro- 
fess to  be  Rebel  soldiers,  notice  is  given  to  all  concerned, 
that  no  guerrilla,  or  Rebel  soldier,  who  now  is  or  has 
been  in  Nelson  county  within  ten  days  past,  will  be  al- 
lowed to  surrender  himself,  otherwise  than  for  trial,  until 
the  perpetrators  of  this  crime  are  arrested ;  they  are 
guerrillas,  and  are  known  to  the  people  of  that  county, 
and  a  reward  of  five  hundred  dollars  is  offered  to  any 
person  who  shall  arrest  or  kill  either  of  the  men  engaged 
in  the  commission  of  this  outrage." 

Edwards,  in  his  noted  "Guerrillas,"  in  describing  this 
affair,  says:  "In  the  meantime,  a  horrible  outrage  had 
been  committed.  A  most  respectable  woman,  a  Mrs. 
Clark,  had  been  outraged  under  circumstances  of  peculiar 
atrocity.  Riding  an  unfrequented  road  to  a  neighboring 
town  in  quest  of  medicine,  or  medical  attendance  for  an 
ailing  neighbor,  she  was  overpowered  by  two  ruffians  and 
monstrously  abused.  Some  who  both  hated  and  feared 
the  remnant  of  Quantrell's  little  band  accused  them  of 
the  atrocious  act.  General  Palmer,  in  a  moment  of  un- 
reasonable indignation  unusual  for  him,  joined  in  the 
outcry  without  investigation,  and  declared  bitterly  that, 
until  the  savages  who  did  the  deed  were  brought  to  him, 
living  or  dead,  the  Missouri  guerrillas  should  take  their 
chances  as  outlaws  and  be  hunted  accordingly.  Equally 
with  the  indignation  of  the  Federal  general,  was  the  indig- 
nation of  the  Missourians.  Frank  James,  especially,  was 
furious.  Before  Palmer  even  knew  of  the  outrage,  James 
had  taken  William  Hulse  with  him,  and  had  struck  and 
followed  rapidly  the  trail  of  the  scoundrels.  On  the 
Chaplain  river,  above  Chaplaintown,  and  after  a  sleep- 
less hunt  for  two  days  and  nights,  the  guerrillas  came 
upon  their  prey.  One  was  a  Kentuckian  named  Broth- 
ers, and  the  other  a  nondescript  called  'Texas  ;'  his  proper 
name  was  probably  Jonathan  Billingboy. 

"These  two  desperadoes  had  been  joined  by  a  third, 
who,  while  he  was  in  no  manner  connected  with  the  out- 


270  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

rage,  would,  probably,  in  a  fight,  make  common  cause 
with  his  companions.  'There  are  three,'  said  Hulse, 
when  the  trail  had  ended  at  a  house,  and  when  a  further 
reconnoissance  revealed  the  fact  that  none  of  them  had 
left  it.  'Yes,'  replied  James,  'there  are  three.  If  there 
were  six,  it  would  not  matter.'  They  dismounted  and 
tied  their  horses  in  some  timber  back  from  the  dwelling, 
and  then  gained  it  unobserved.  Those  whom  they 
sought  were  at  dinner,  armed,  but  indifferent. 

"Throwing  back  the  door  of  the  dining-room  uncere- 
moniously, the  two  guerrillas  strode  in,  wrathful  and 
accusing.  Frank  James,  always  one  among  the  coolest 
and  deadliest  among  the  fighters  known  to  the  border, 
called  out  in  a  singularly  placid,  yet  penetrating,  voice  : 
'Keep  your  seats,  all  of  you  ;  keep  your  hands  up  ;  keep 
your  eyes  to  the  front.' 

"Two  sat  stone  still,  scarcely  breathing,  hardly  lift- 
ing or  letting  fall  an  eyelid.  Brothers,  desperate  even 
in  an  extremity  such  as  this,  snatched  swiftly  for  his 
pistol.  Frank  James  blew  his  brains  out  across  the 
table.  The  other  two  did  not  move.  Hulse  covered 
both,  but  did  not  fire.  He  did  not  know  the  man  called 
Texas,  and  he  would  not  kill  an  innocent  man.  Texas, 
however,  was  not  one  of  the  party,  nor  had  he  been  with 
Brothers  since  the  outrage.  When  this  was  ascertained, 
Frank  James  spoke  to  Hulse  :  'Our  work  is  but  half 
done;  let  us  go  and  finish  it.'  It  was  twenty  miles  to 
Alexander  Sayer's  house,  and  these  two  men  rode  the 
distance  rapidly. 

"They  desired  to  find  as  soon  as  might  be  the  trail  of 
the  second  scoundrel,  no  matter  how  cold  or  indistinct. 
Others  of  his  comrades  had  been  ahead  of  him,  as 
swiftly  as  he  had  ridden,  and  Texas  had  shared  the  fate  of 
Brothers.  Captured  by  John  Ross,  Henry  Porter  and 
Allen  Farmer,  he  had  so  vociferously  defended  himself, 
and  so  eloquently  pleaded  his  own  innocence,  that  these 
three  intrepid  men — unable  through  the  very  excess  of 
those  soldierly  qualities  which  had  made  them  desperately 


THE  GUERRILLAS.  271 

brave,  to  understand  how  it  was  possible  to  commit  such  a 
crime — listened  rather  favorably  to  his  protestations,  and 
permitted  him  to  retain  his  pistols,  and  ride  leisurely  along 
with  them  to  the  house  of  Benedict  Pashe.  Mr.  Pashe 
would  establish  his  innocence  beyond  all  controversy.  Mr. 
Pashe  knew  of  his  immediate  whereabouts  the  day  Broth- 
ers did  his  devil's  work,  and  Mr.  Pashe  would  make  his 
alibi  impervious  to  assault.  Mr.  Pashe  never  had  an  op- 
portunity to  say  to  the  plausible  story  'yea'  or  'nay.' 
While  yet  distant  from  his  house  a  mile  or  more,  Texas 
broke  away  from  his  accommodating  captors,  and  fled  like 
an  Arab.  Better  mounted  than  either  Ross  or  Parmer, 
Texas  soon  outstripped  them,  untouched  by  the  bullets 
sent  after  him,  and  would  have  escaped  altogether  if 
the  speed  of  the  start  had  been  joined  to  the  bottom  of 
Farmer's  horse.  A  gallop  of  a  mile,  however,  told  the 
story  of  the  chase.  Texas  was  a  thorough  cavalryman, 
though  a  born  robber.  He  knew  by  the  laboring  breast 
of  his  steed,  the  reeling  stride,  the  foam  of  an  unnatural 
perspiration,  the  uncertain  way  the  feet  took  hold  of  the 
ringing  turnpike,  the  almost  human  agony  the  faithful 
animal  manifested  over  its  own  failing  powers,  that  th& 
end  was  nigh  at  hand.  He  looked  back  once,  as  he 
crowned  the  crest  of  a  sudden  hill,  and  saw  Parmer,  fixed 
as  fate  in  the  saddle,  and  as  immovable,  gaining  upon 
him  hand  over  hand.  There  was  one  resource  left,  com- 
mon alike  to  the  ant  or  the  elephant — he  could  fight. 
He  halted  his  blown  horse,  and  turned  about.  Parmer 
came  right  on,  a  pistol  in  his  right  hand,  and  the  reins 
well  gathered  up  in  his  left.  At  fifty  paces  he  fired  at . 
Texas  and  missed  him.  Texas  stood  fast,  his  face  wear- 
ing a  hunted  look,  and  his  eyes  wolfish.  At  thirty 
paces  the  two  fired  simultaneously,  Parmer  missing 
again,  but  Texas  wounding  his  horse  severely,  if  not 
fatally.  Parmer  lessened  the  distance  by  a  spur  stroke, 
and  fired  the  third  time  at  Texas,  barely  ten  feet  away. 
This  time  he  did  not  miss.  Game  to  the  last,  Texas, 
even  as  he  reeled  in  the  saddle,  gripped  his  own  horse 


272  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

with  his  knees,  steadied  himself  for  a  moment  or  two, 
and  fired  twice  at  Farmer  before  he  fell.  He  had  been 
hurt,  however,  too  badly  to  be  accurate.  Another  bullet 
in  the  breast  finished  him.  As  he  lived,  so  had  he  died, 
a  bad,  stoical,  unrepentant  man.  The  bodies  of  both 
Texas  and  Brothers  were  carried  by  the  Federals  into 
Bardstown,  and  identified  by  Mrs.  Clark  as  the  bodies 
of  her  assailants.  Justice  was  satisfied,  and  Palmer  was 
appeased. 

".  .  .  Henry  Porter  gathered  hurriedly  together 
the  remnant  of  Quantrell's  torn,  scarred  and  decimated 
guerrilla  band,  just  eighteen  in  all,  and  surrendered 
them  at  Samuel's  Depot,  Nelson  county,  July  25,  1865." 

I  limited  my  order  to  Nelson  county,  in  order  that  the 
innocent  might  not  be  punished,  but  I  determined  that 
the  guilty  men  should  be  captured  or  killed,  and  the 
guerrillas  did  the  work,  as  has  been  stated  by  Edwards, 
for  me. 

One  evening  in  March,  1865,  a  gentleman  from  Eliza- 
beth town  called  upon  me  at  the  Louisville  Hotel,  and 
told  me  that  "Sue  Mundy"  (Jerome  Clark),  Magruder 
and  Medkiff  were  concealed  in  a  barn  about  ten  miles 
from  Bradenburg  ;  that  Magruder  had  been  wounded  in 
some  one  of  his  numerous  fights.  I  immediately  made 
arrangements  to  capture  them.  I  sent  a  company  of 
Wisconsin  infantry  on  the  night  boat  to  Brandenburg,  to 
go  from  that  place  and  surround  the  barn,  capture  the 
guerrillas  and  bring  them  to  Louisville.  When  the 
company  reached  the  barn,  the  guerrillas  made  a  des- 
perate defense.  It  is  not  true  that  they  surrendered  as 
prisoners  of  war.  The  Louisville  Journal  said,  "We  re- 
joice at  the  capture  of  the  cut-throats,  and  freely  say 
that  the  planning  of  the  expedition  reflects  credit  upon 
the  officers  connected  with  it." 

They  were  all  brought  to  Louisville,  tried,  and  sen- 
tenced to  be  hanged.  The  case  of  Magruder  drew  upon 
my  feelings  heavily.  Mundy  (or  Clark)  and  Medkiff 
cost  me  no  effort  to  order  their  execution.  Magruder 's 


THE  GUERRILLAS.  273 

mother  visited  me  at  my  headquarters,  and  besought  the 
life  of  her  son.  I  was  compelled  in  answer  to  her  im- 
portunities to  get  the  record  of  the  proceedings  before  the 
military  commission,  and  read  to  her  the  testimony  of 
witnesses,  which  showed  that  a  young  man  who  had 
belonged  to  the  15th  Kentucky  had  served  three  years, 
and  was  honorably  discharged,  and  had  been  shot  by 
Magruder  under  aggravated  circumstances.  The  father 
of  the  young  soldier  had  been  taken  sick  and  died.  The 
mother  withheld  all  knowledge  of  his  illness  from  the 
son  until  his  death,  when  she  telegraphed  for  him  to  re- 
turn and  attend  his  father's  funeral,  which  he  did,  and 
meant  to  return  to  Louisville  in  the  evening  by  train 
from  Nashville. 

Unfortunately,  Magruder  had  heard  of  his  arrival  in 
town,  Nicholasville,  went  to  the  house,  took  him  a  short 
distance  from  home,  and  shot  him  to  death  for  no  other 
offense  than  that  he  had  served  in  the  Union  army.  I 
told  Magruder 's  mother  that  if  human  justice  meant 
anything,  her  son  must  die.  I  was  afterwards  visited 
by  Governor  Bramlette  and  General  Walter  C.  Whit- 
taker,  who  sought  to  interpose  to  save  the  life  of  Ma- 
gruder, and  recommended  the  commutation  of  his  sen- 
tence ;  but  I  told  him  that  I  had  refused  to  grant  a  com- 
mutation to  his  mother,  and  that  the  agony  was  over. 
Magruder  was  executed,  his  remains  taken  to  his  home, 
and  I  was  told  that  more  than  a  thousand  persons  at- 
tended his  funeral. 

The  case  of  Jim  Davis  was  a  most  remarkable  one. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  widow  in  Jessamine  county.  He 
had  gone  to  Lawrenceburg,  in  Anderson  county,  with 
his  associates,  taken  three  negroes  out  of  jail,  where 
they  had  been  confined  for  "going  at  large  and  hiring 
themselves  out  as  free  persons,"  and  held  them  under 
the  ice  in  the  Kentucky  river  until  they  were  drowned. 
He  had  been  concerned  in  other  murders,  was  tried  by 
a  military  commission,  and  sentenced  to  death. 
18 


274  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

I  addressed  the  following  letter  to  the  adjutant-general 

U.  S.  A.  : 

"SiR — I  have  the  honor  to  forward  to  your  office, 
for  the  information  of  the  president,  abstracts  of  the 
record  of  the  military  commission  convened  in  this  de- 
partment for  the  trial  of  Samuel  O.  Berry,  citizen,  and 
the  order  approving  the  findings,  and  for  his  execution 
on  the  second  day  of  March  prox.  Since  the  abrogation 
of  martial  law,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  a  de- 
partment commander  has  the  authority  to  order  the  exe- 
cution of  this  sentence.  I  have  the  honor  to  request  the 
order  and  direction  of  the  president  in  the  premises. 

"Respectfully, 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER. 

"LOUISVILLE,  KY.,  February  15,  1866." 

I  had,  on  February  2,  1866,  reported  to  the  adjutant- 
general  of  United  States  Army  the  papers  in  the  case  of 
Jim  Davis,  and  called  the  attention  of  the  secretary  of 
war  and  that  of  the  president  to  his  case.  "Davis  is 
beyond  question  one  of  the  worst  men  which  the  troubles 
in  this  state  have  brought  into  notice,  as  will  be  seen 
by  the  inspection  of  the  record  of  his  case  now  in  the 
bureau  of  military  justice  ;  was  tried  before  an  able  and 
impartial  military  commission,  and  sentenced  to  death, 
but,  upon  the  application  of  friends,  was  respited  in- 
definitely by  the  order  of  the  president. "  "  The  evidence 
in  the  case  of  'One-armed  Berry,'  a  notorious  guerrilla 
now  on  trial  here,  connects  him  with  many  crimes,  in- 
cluding murder.  Davis  has  been  many  months  in  prison 
here,  and  is  so  still.  I  have  the  honor  to  request  that 
some  final  order  be  made  respecting  him,  and  if  his  sen- 
tence be  commuted  to  imprisonment,  that  he  be  confined 
in  some  other  state.  I  think  the  courts  here  will  dis- 
charge all  military  prisoners,  even  those  confined  in  the 
penitentiary  of  the  state  under  sentence,  as  soon  as  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  be  restored." 


THE  GUERRILLAS.  275 

I  had  approved  the  sentence  of  Samuel  0.  Berry  by 
an  order  dated  February  28,  1866,  which  directed  his 
execution  on  the  following  Friday.  On  Monday  preced- 
ing the  Friday  on  which  he  was  to  be  executed,  two  la- 
dies called  upon  me,  and  introduced  themselves  as  Mrs. 
Smith  and  Miss  Bailey,  and  requested  to  see  Berry.  I 
said  to  them:  "Ladies,  are  you  relatives  of  his?" 
They  said  they  "were  not."  I  answered  :  "I  have  a  rule 
which  I  cannot  violate ;  that  no  one  can  see  prisoners, 
who  are  under  sentence  of  death,  other  than  their  rela- 
tives or  clergymen."  One  of  them  said:  "You  make 
no  difference  on  account  of  sex,  do  you?"  And  I  asked  : 
"Are  you  religious  teachers?"  They  answered  :  "We 
are  Spiritualists."  I  said  to  them:  "Ladies,  you  will 
not  tell  the  poor  fellow  that  he  will  not  be  hanged  on 
Friday,  will  you?"  They  said  they  would  not. 

In  the  [afternoon  of  the  same  day,  they  came  to  my 
headquarters,  and  told  me  they  "had  seen  Berry's 
mother  with  a  rainbow  about  her  head,  and  that  she  had 
told  them,  and  they  told  him,  that  he  would  not  die  on 
Friday."  I  replied:  "Ladies,  if  anything  in  human 
affairs  is  certain,  Berry  will  be  hanged  on  Friday.  I 
think  you  have  treated  me  badly."  On  the  Wednesday 
afterwards  they  returned  and  asked  to  see  Berry.  I  re- 
fused them,  and  they  went  away. 

Soon  afterwards  one  of  the  guards  of  the  prison  came 
with  a  written  request  from  Berry  that  he  might  be  al- 
lowed to  see  Mrs.  Smith  and  Miss  Bailey.  It  seemed 
to  me  hard  that  he  should  not  see  them  once  more,  and 
I  consented.  The  ladies  again  called  upon  me,  after 
seeing  Berry,  and  told  me  again  that  he  would  not  die. 

On  February  21,  1866,  an  order  was  issued  from  the 
adjutant-general's  office  commuting  the  sentence  of 
Harvey  Welles,  alias  Wm.  Henry,  alias  Jim  Davis,  to 
ten  years'  confinement  at  hard  labor  in  the  penitentiary 
at  Albany,  New  York. 

Davis  was  a  worse  man  than  Berry  ;  I  felt  that  he  had 
owed  the  commutation  of  his  sentence  to  the  interfer- 


276  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

ence  of  influential  friends,  and  was  indignant  that  they 
should  have  arrested  the  sentence  of  death,  for  I  felt 
that  he  deserved  it.  In  consequence  of  the  direction  of 
the  president  the  war  department  issued  the  following 
order : 

"General  Court-Martial  Order  No.  21.  Subject  to  the 
approval  of  President  of  the  United  States,  the  sentence 
of  death  in  the  case  of  Harvey  Wells,  alias  Wm.  Henry 
(who  was  convicted  under  the  name  of  Jim  Davis) ,  as 
promulgated  in  General  Court-Martial  Order  No.  51, 
War  Department,  Adjutant-General's  Office,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.,  February  21, 1866,  is  commuted  to  ten  years' 
confinement  at  hard  labor  in  the  penitentiary  at  Albany, 
New  York." 

When  I  received  the  order  commuting  the  sentence  of 
Davis,  I  issued  the  following  order  : 

"General  Court-Martial  Order  No.  19,  February  28, 
1866,  from  these  headquarters,  is  hereby  revoked. 
Subject  to  the  approval  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  the  sentence  of  death  in  the  case  of  Samuel  0. 
Berry,  as  promulgated  in  General  Court-Martial  Order 
No.  11,  February  10,  1866,  from  these  headquarters,  is 
commuted  to  ten  years'  confinement  at  hard  labor  in  the 
penitentiary  at  Albany,  New  York.  By  command  of 

"GENERAL  JOHN  M.  PALMER. 

"E.  B.  HARLAN,  Captain  and  A.  A.  G." 

And  I  sent  by  the  same  guard  both  prisoners  to  the 
Clinton  prison,  at  Albany,  New  York.  I  had  not  the 
slightest  purpose  of  saving  Berry  until  I  received  the 
order  commuting  the  sentence  of  Davis.  I  felt  that  both; 
of  them  deserved  death.  The  spiritualist  ladies,  Mrs. 
Smith  and  Miss  Bailey,  called  upon  me  after  I  had  com- 
muted the  sentence  of  Berry,  and  were  kind  enough  to 
say  to  me  that  "the  spirits  knew  much  more  than  I  did,', 
and  the  spiritualistic  circles  about  Louisville  were  greatly, 
confirmed  by  the  incident  I  have  before  mentioned. 


THE  GUERRILLAS.  277 

Another  incident,  which  occurred  in  Kentucky,  may 
illustrate  the  swaggering  ways  of  the  guerrillas,  and 
the  dread  which  the  people  felt  for  them.  It  was  re- 
ported to  me  that  a  man  living  on  the  Bardstown  road 
was  feeding  guerrillas,  and  I  instructed  Captain  George 
Green,  chief  of  my  defective  force,  to  arrest  him  the  first 
time  he  came  into  the  city. 

He  was  arrested  and  brought  before  me.  I  said  to 
him  :  "Doctor,"  for  he  was  a  physician,  "I  understand 
that  you  have  been  harboring  and  feeding  guerrillas." 
He  replied:  "Yes,  I  fed  Captain  Marion,  as  he  called 
himself,  and  four  or  five  of  his  men,  on  the  Fourth  of 
July."  I  said:  "Well,  you  have  confessed  the  charge, 
and  I  will  order  you  to  the  military  prison."  He  said  : 
"General,  let  me  tell  you  the  circumstances:  I  live  on 
the  big  road,  and  have  a  lawn  in  front  of  my  house,  and 
on  the  Fourth  of  July,  'Captain  Marion'  opened  my  front 
gate,  rode  up  to  the  house,  and  said  :  'We  want  dinner.' 
I  said  to  him  :  'My  wife  and  I  are  the  only  persons  at 
home ;  the  servants  have  all  gone  to  a  Fourth  of  July, 
and  my  wife  is  not  in  the  habit  of  cooking,  and  I  hope 
you  will  excuse  me.'  Captain  Marion  said,  'We  want 
dinner,  and  we  want  it  quick,'  with  an  oath.  I  said, 
'Gentlemen,  light,  and  come  in,  we  will  do  the  best  we 
can  for  you.'  They  then  asked,  'Can  you  feed  our 
horses?'  I  answered,  'If  you  will  take  your  horses 
around  to  the  stable,  there  is  plenty  of  corn  and  fod- 
der, you  are  welcome  to  do  so.'  His  reply  was,  'Bring 
the  corn  and  fodder  around  here,  take  off  the  bridles, 
and  feed  them  on  the  grass.'  I  did  so.  My  wife  when 
she  has  a  mind  to  be  so  is  a  good  cook,  and  got  dinner 
for  them  in  a  hurry  ;  I  dont  think  she  would  have  done 
it  for  you.  When  the  gentlemen  sat  down  to  dinner 
Captain  Marion  said,  'Have  you  anything  to  drink?' 
and  I  said,  'Well,  my  wife  has  a  few  bottles  of  native 
wine  that  she  made  herself,  but  she  is  stingy  of  it.'  He 
said,  'Bring  me  a  bottle  of  it,'  and  struck  off  the  neck 
of  it  with  a  bowie  knife.  Then  said,  'It's  pretty  good, 


278  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

let's  have  two  or  three  bottles  of  it.'  After  they  had 
dined  the  captain  said,  'Have  you  any  cigars,  bring 
them  along.'  And  I  said,  'Gentlemen,  I  have  a  few  in 
a  box.'  He  approved  them,  and  said,  'Boys  lets  take 
three  or  four  of  them,'  and  they  did  so.  When  they 
mounted  their  horses  on  going  away  the  captain  said, 
'If  you  tell  the  Yankees  that  you  have  seen  us  we 
will  come  back  and  burn  your  house.'  "  The  doctor's 
manner  was  so  sincere  that  I  believed  every  word  he 
said,  and  told  him  that  I  would  have  fed  the  ^uerrillas 

O 

myself  under  similar  circumstances.  The  doctor  did 
not  go  to  prison. 

I  tendered  my  resignation  as  major-general  of  volun- 
teers on  February  19,  1866,  and  asked  to  be  relieved 
from  the  command  of  the  Department  of  Kentucky  on 
April  1,  1866.  When  relieved  of  the  command  of  the 
department,  I  returned  to  my  home  at  Carlinville,  Illi- 
nois, and  soon  afterwards  formed  a  partnership  with 
Mr.  Milton  Hay,  of  Springfield,  in  the  practice  of  law. 
When  I  retired  from  the  army  I  found  that  Dr.  Ben- 
jamin F.  Stevenson,  who  resided  in  Springfield  at  the 
time,  was  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  a  ritual  for  an 
organization  which  he  proposed  to  call  the  "Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,''  to  be  composed  of  soldiers  of 
the  civil  war.  The  plan  of  such  an  organization  met 
with  favor  from  all  the  military  people  of  the  city,  and 
it  at  once  became  popular.  It  seems  that  Dr.  Steven- 
son, in  conjunction  with  Chaplain  William  J.  Rutledge, 
had  conceived  the  plan  of  organizing  the  honorably  dis- 
charged soldiers  into  a  society,  and  as  both  had  be- 
longed to  the  14th  Illinois  Infantry,  Dr.  Stevenson  as 
surgeon  and  Mr.  Rutledge  as  chaplain,  I  was  consulted 
about  the  ritual  and  approved  it. 

On  July  1,  1866,  while  engaged  in  a  trial  in  the  Cir- 
cuit Court  of  the  United  States  I  was  peremptorily  or- 
dered to  Washington  by  Mr.  Stan  ton,  secretary  of  war. 
Upon  arriving  at  Washington,  I  was  ordered  to  pro- 
ceed to  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  to  preside  at  a  court 


L^m^tae*    (yfl&e. 

(7  // 


'it.- 


-  ctc 

/ 


yl  tcAianatwn   Sia£  veen    acce/ifea    v//.  {/ie 
0*  t/te     (Cnitefb   G/tcttet,  to  tci/ie  e//ec£  t/te 


ant,  Ail,  velrt 
f 


ovea'ient  teivant, 


THE  GUERRILLAS.  279 

martial  for  the  trial  of  the  officers  of  the  Freedman's 
Bureau. 

I  spent  the  Fourth  of  July  at  Richmond,  Virginia, 
and  witnessed  the  rejoicing  of  the  late  slaves  over  their 
emancipation.  I  took  the  cars  next  morning  and  ar- 
rived at  Raleigh  the  same  evening,  where  I  organized 
the  court  and  proceeded  to  business. 

On  the  12th  of  July,  during  my  absence  from  home,  I 
was  elected  commander  of  the  new  organization,  and  was 
informed  of  my  election  while  at  Raleigh  by  a  letter 
from  Governor  Oglesby,  who  was  connected  with  the  or- 
ganization. 

I  was  much  disappointed  over  the  non-acceptance  of 
my  resignation  by  the  secretary  of  war,  but  Mr.  Stanton 
informed  me  that  he  had  kept  me,  an  officer  of  rank,  for 
court  martial  purposes,  but  if  I  would  go  to  Nashville, 
Tennessee,  he  would  accept  my  resignation  on  the  first 
of  September. 

While  in  Washington,  upon  my  return,  I  called  upon 
General  Grant,  who  was  in  command  of  the  army,  and 
he  offered  to  recommend  me  for  an  appointment  in  the 
regular  army  as  brigadier-general,  which  I  declined, 
telling  him  that  I  would  rather  be  a  police  magistrate 
of  the  town  in  which  I  lived  than  a  brigadier  general  in 
time  of  peace  ;  but  I  told  him  that  I  would  give  him  ten 
thousand  dollars  for  his  first  year's  salary  as  president 
of  the  United  States.  He  also  declined  my  offer,  the 
salary  was  then  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  a  year. 
On  my  return  to  Illinois,  I  resumed  the  practice  of  law 
with  Mr.  Hay,  and  in  April,  1867,  removed  my  family 
to  Springfield,  where  I  have  resided  ever  since. 

In  November,  1868,  I  was  elected  governor  of  Illinois, 
which  dissolved  my  partnership  with  Mr.  Hay.  Our 
partnership  was  a  most  agreeable  and  profitable  one. 
He  was  a  great  lawyer  and  an  honest  man  ;  his  logical 
power  was  unsurpassed  by  any  one  with  whom  I  have 
ever  been  associated.  We  tried  many  causes  of  great 
importance. 


280  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

Inaugural  address  —  Condition  of  the  times  —  Change  in  situation  of 
North  and  South  —  Democratic  party  —  Railway  corporations  —  Gov- 
ernor Oglesby  —  Public  schools  —  Incorporation  laws  —  Vetoes  —  Local 
taxation  —  Lake-front  bill  and  veto. 

I  am  now  about  to  enter  upon  a  period  of  my  life 
which  is  so  near  to  the  present  time  that  I  will  not  be 
able,  with  a  just  regard  for  the  feelings  of  some  who  are 
living,  or  to  the  memory  of  the  dead,  to  write  with  the 
same  freedom  that  I  have  felt  in  the  narration  of  the 
events  less  known,  or  that  occurred  before  and  at  a  more 
distant  point  of  time. 

I  had  been  elected  to  the  office  of  governor  of  the  State 
of  Illinois  at  the  preceding  state  election,  by  a  majority 
so  large  that  I  could  not  doubt  but  that  I  had  the  per- 
sonal confidence  and  respect  of  the  people  of  the  state. 
I  had  lived  in  Illinois  since  my  boyhood  and  watched  its 
advance  in  population,  in  wealth  and  intelligence  ;  still, 
it  was  not  the  Illinois  I  had  known  from  1831,  until  I  left 
the  state  with  my  regiment,  in  1861.  From  1831,  until  the 
time  I  have  mentioned,  the  people  were  poor,  but  con- 
tented ;  and,  though  property  was  of  small  value  in  the 
currency  which  was  supplied  by  local  banks  of  this  and 
other  states,  the  people  of  Illinois  were  practically  without 
money.  I  remember  that  when  I  left  home  for  the  army 
I  had  in  the  bank  at  Carlinville,  where  I  lived,  nearly 
three  hundred  dollars  in  gold  ;  it  was  worth  some  one 
hundred  and  twenty,  and  rose  to  two  hundred  and  forty, 
as  compared  with  the  bills  of  the  banks  and  the  govern- 
ment issues,  which  were  called  "greenbacks." 

I  had  left  home  in  May,  1861,  with  about  seventy-five 
dollars  of  the  bills  of  the  banks  organized  under  the  state 
laws.  I  had  ordered  a  uniform  at  Jacksonville,  after  I 
took  command  of  my  regiment,  at  a  cost  of  some  forty 


INAUGURATED  GO\7ERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  281 

dollars  ;  in  a  night,  the  bills  became  so  depreciated  that 
they  were  not  worth  the  price  of  the  uniform.  At  the 
time  of  my  leaving  home  for  the  army,  the  Rebels  were 
exhibiting  great  activity,  and,  in  the  minds  of  many 
thoughtful  men,  the  Southern  Confederacy  was  already 
established  and  the  Union  dissolved.  I  did  not  myself 
feel  the  greatest  confidence  in  the  ultimate  success  of  our 
intended  efforts  to  suppress  the  rebellion.  The  indiffer- 
ence of  many  and  hostility  of  some  of  my  acquaintances 
made  me  apprehensive  that,  before  the  struggle  would 
end,  even  Illinois  might  be  the  theater  of  civil  conflict. 
But,  now  that  the  war  was  over,  all  its  just  objects  were 
accomplished,  and  the  Rebels  had  submitted  to  the  Union 
army  and  slavery  was  abolished,  it  seemed  to  me  that 
the  country  should  henceforth  be  governed  by  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  federal  and  state  constitutions,  and  that  the 
rules  of  orderly  and  good  government  should  again  pre- 
vail. I  have  no  doubt  but  that,  in  point  of  sentiment, 
the  feeling  in  that  direction  was  general ;  but,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  there  was  then  no  organized  public  opinion 
capable  of  demanding  the  return  to  constitutional  gov- 
ernment, or  a  return  to  the  habits  of  economy  and  hon- 
esty which,  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war,  charac- 
terized the  American  people. 

There  was  at  the  same  time  a  complete  change  in  po- 
litical, social  and  financial  power  between  the  two  sec- 
tions of  the  Union.  Before  the  war,  the  "South"  dom- 
inated the  government,  and  its  social  ideas  influenced  all 
sections  of  the  Union.  Its  condition  was  now  changed  ; 
its  power  was  overthrown  ;  its  people  were  humbled  by 
defeat,  and  were  humiliated  by  poverty ;  its  political 
ideas  were  odious,  while  the  North  had  in  turn  become 
prosperous  and  arrogant.  The  people  of  the  Northern 
states,  feeling  that  they  were  in  possession  of  the  Federal 
government,  feared  nothing  for  themselves  and  regard- 
less of  the  facts  of  history,  that  "precedents  of  despot- 
ism become  public  law  and  in  progress  of  time  are  turned 
against  the  authors." 


282  THE  STORY  OF  A^N    EARNEST  LIFE. 

When  I  speak  of  the  eagerness  of  the  people  to  employ 
despotic  measures  against  the  people  of  the  subjugated 
states,  I,  of  course,  refer  to  the  dominant  element  of  the 
Republican  party ;  the  Democratic  party,  which  then 
represented  only  a  minority  in  the  Northern  states,  was 
disorganized,  and  had  neither  the  resolution  nor  the  force 
to  resist  the  obvious  tendency  of  the  radical  Republican 
party  policy. 

As  I  have  elsewhere  stated,  the  Democratic  party  was 
placed  in  a  false  political  position  by  the  fatal  mistake 
of  Douglas,  in  his  attempt  to  repeal  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise. He  mistook  the  state  of  public  sentiment  in 
both  sections  of  the  Union. 

The  feeling  of  hostility  to  slavery  in  the  free  states, 
which  had  been  so  long  repressed,  upon  the  repeal  of  the 
compromise  of  1820,  burst  forth  with  a  vehemence  that 
astounded  the  country,  while  the  pro-slavery  sentiment 
which  then  controlled  the  politics  of  the  South,  blind  to 
the  future,  became  more  exacting  and  defiant.  The 
Northern  Democracy  suddenly  found  itself  between  two 
determined  forces,  and  vainly  attempted  to  find  some 
common  ground  of  compromise. 

Mr.  Douglas  attempted  to  interpose  between  the  ex- 
asperated parties  the  specious  theory  of  popular  sov- 
ereignty, as  applied  to  the  territories.  Popular  sov- 
ereignty, as  interpreted  by  Mr.  Douglas,  proposed  that 
the  people  who  settled  the  new  territories,  should  at 
some  time  settle  the  question  of  the  entrance  of  slavery, 
for  themselves,  but,  in  the  meantime,  it  conceded  the 
right  of  citizens  of  all  the  states  to  remove  into  the  new 
territories,  and  carry  with  them  their  property  and  hold 
slaves,  if  slavery  was  lawful  in  the  states  of  their  former 
residence.  He  claimed,  that  notwithstanding  the  immi- 
grants to  the  territories  from  slave  states  had  the  right 
to  remove  to  the  territories  with  their  slaves,  and  hold 
them  there  as  slaves,  and  the  settlers  would  have  no 
constitutional  right  to  prohibit  slavery,  still  they  might 
in  effect  repel  slavery  by  "unfriendly  legislation."  The 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  283 

theory  of  Mr.  Douglas  was  no  doubt  unsound  in  prin- 
ciple and  incapable  of  practical  application.  It  was  de- 
nounced by  the  radical  parties  of  both  sections,  and  the 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  1860,  left  the  Democratic 
party  in  the  North  without  rallying  principle,  and  com- 
pletely helpless.  To  add  to  the  difficulties  of  the  Demo- 
cratic situation,  it  was  the  misfortune  of  the  party,  that 
in  the  presidential  canvass  of  1868,  it  had,  in  violation 
of  its  traditional  principles,  committed  itself  to  the  plan 
of  discharging  the  national  debt  in  legal  tender  treasury 
notes,  to  be  issued  by  the  treasury  of  the  United  States 
for  that  purpose.  It  proposed  to  impose  taxes  upon  the 
bonds  issued  by  the  United  States,  either  to  borrow 
money  for  the  purposes  of  war,  or  to  fund  the  issues  of 
depreciated  legal  tender  notes.  This  measure,  which  was 
a  violation  alike  of  the  public  faith  and  of  sound  financial 
policy,  had,  in  the  public  judgment,  something  of  the 
appearance  of  repudiation. 

Under  those  circumstances  I  saw  but  little  prospect  of 
support  in  any  effort  I  might  make  in  the  direction  of 
recovering  for  the  state  its  former  dignified  relation  to 
the  government  of  the  Union,  but  at  the  same  time  I 
was  so  well  convinced,  both  by  reasonings  that  seemed 
to  be  unanswerable,  as  well  as  by  the  experience  of  all 
ages,  that  unless  the  principle  that  the  states  are  sov- 
ereign within  their  sphere,  and  that  their  rightful  pow- 
ers are  original  and  inherent  and  their  exercise  is  in  no 
sense  dependent  upon  the  consent  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment— I  determined  to  assert  these  propositions  in  my 
inaugural  address. 

The  subject  of  the  proper  government  of  railway  cor- 
porations at  the  time  occupied  a  large  share  of  public  at- 
tention. The  projectors  of  railways  had  in  many  in- 
stances taken  advantage  of  the  eagerness  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  many  of  the  counties,  cities  and  towns  of  the 
state,  to  obtain  the  facilities  which  they  expected  from 
the  construction  of  railways,  and  had  obtained  large 
local  subscriptions  to  their  capital  stock  which  in  some 


284  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

cases  was  wasted,  or  lost  by  bad  and  reckless  manage- 
ment, and  donations  were  made  by  municipal  bodies 
directly  to  such  corporations,  in  aid  of  the  construction 
of  their  roads,  until  there  was,  in  fact,  but  few  import- 
ant points  in  the  state  not  touched  by  railroads  which 
connected  them  with  the  important  markets  of  the 
country  ;  and  many  other  roads  were  contemplated,  which 
projectors  really  intended  to  construct  at  the  expense  of 
the  localities  interested,  and  their  disregard  of  the  claims 
of  the  local  bodies,  and  by  some  device  deprive  them  of 
all  interest  in  the  railroads,  which  were  in  fact  built  with 
the  money  they  had  furnished. 

The  railway  corporations  had  obtained  liberal  charters 
from  the  legislatures,  which  included,  among  other 
powers,  that  of  fixing  the  rates  to  be  charged  for 
their  service  as  carriers.  They  claimed  that  in  that  and 
in  some  other  important  respects,  their  powers  were  ab- 
solute and  uncontrollable  by  any  or  all  the  departments 
of  the  state  government ;  and  in  support  of  that  claim, 
they  insisted  that  all  the  provisions  of  their  charter  were 
contracts  with  the  state,  and  then,  relying  upon  the  cele- 
brated Dartmouth  College  case,  they  could  not  be  impaired 
by  state  action. 

I  determined  that  I  would  in  my  inaugural  insist  upon 
the  right  of  the  state  to  regulate  and  control  such  cor- 
porations, and  in  that  way  bring  to  the  attention  of  the 
legislature,  and  the  people,  my  own  opinions  upon  the 
power  of  the  states  with  respect  to  corporations  created 
by  their  own  authority,  and  also  repeat  and  vindicate 
the  theory  of  the  inherent,  independent  and  indestruct- 
ible nature  of  the  powers  of  the  states. 

I  assumed  the  duties  of  the  office  of  governor  of  Illi- 
nois on  January  11,  1869,  and  delivered  my  inaugural 
address  in  the  presence  of  both  houses  of  the  general  as- 
sembly in  the  hall  of  the  house  of  representatives.  It 
was  to  me  a  source  of  peculiar  pleasure  that  the  oath  of 
office  was  administered  to  me  by  Hon.  Sidney  Breese, 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  285 

then  chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  and 
for  whom  I  have  already  expressed  such  regard. 

In  my  inaugural,  it  was  but  natural  that  I  should  re- 
fer in  complimentary  terms  to  my  retiring  predecessor, 
Governor  Oglesby. 

Our  friendship,  which  commenced  in  1858,  had  been 
intimate  and  close,  and  his  message,  which  had  been 
transmitted  to  the  legislature  at  the  beginning  of  the 
session,  covered  the  whole  ground  of  executive  duty. 

I  said:  "I  cannot  better  discharge  my  duty  to  the 
people  than  by  urging  upon  your  attention  the  informa- 
tion and  the  measures  recommended  by  the  experienced 
and  patriotic  statesman  who  now  retires  from  the  execu- 
tive office  which  he  has  filled  with  such  advantage  and 
credit  to  the  state."  I  also  alluded  with  satisfaction 
to  the  large  reduction  and  the  prospect  of  an  early  ex- 
tinguishment of  the  state  debt,  and  said  :  "The  greater 
part  of  which  was  contracted  many  years  ago,  and  for 
objects  that  totally  failed  of  advantage,  is  now  nearly  ex- 
tinguished. It  is  to  the  lasting  honor  of  our  people  that 
they  have  not  permitted  their  integrity  or  good  faith  to 
be  doubted,  and  now  that  the  debt  is  almost  discharged, 
we  may  profit  by  the  experience  of  the  past,  and  avoid 
impossible  burdens  upon  those  who  will  succeed  us." 

"It  cannot  be  too  often  repeated  that  the  proper  policy 
of  states,  as  well  as  individuals,  is  best  expressed  in  the 
maxim,  'pay  as  you  go.'  Loans  or  other  methods  of  an- 
ticipating the  public  revenues  are  deceptive,  and  in 
practice  burdensome  and  oppressive.  By  this  means, 
the  actual  expenses  of  the  government  are  successfully 
concealed  from  the  people,  and  their  consent  obtained 
to  enterprises  of  such  doubtful  propriety  that  they  would 
have  been  promptly  rejected  by  them,  if  they  had  been 
submitted  with  a  proposition  to  raise  at  once  by  taxation 
the  money  needed  to  insure  their  success." 

I  alluded,  in  terms  of  the  highest  approbation,  to  our 
system  of  public  schools  and  to  our  benevolent  estab- 
lishments, and,  aware  of  the  possibility  of  their  man- 


286  THE  STOKY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

agement,  I  urged  upon  the  legislature  the  duty  of  sub- 
jecting them  to  the  strictest  and  most  searching  in- 
vestigation. I  alluded  to  the  jealousy  of  the  framers  of 
the  constitution  of  1847,  of  corporations,  and  mentioned 
the  fact  that  special  legislation  was  then  regarded  as 
anti-republican  and  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the 
people,  and  said:  "It  would  be  an  interesting  and  in- 
structive employment  to  investigate  the  extent  and 
variety  of  the  objects  for  which  incorporations  have 
been  created  by  special  laws,  and  of  the  powers  conferred 
upon  them.  It  is  enough,  for  illustration,  to  say  that  to 
meet  the  demands  of  this  interest,  many  of  them  are 
exempted  from  the  operations  of  the  general  laws  of  the 
state,  those,  too,  most  useful  and  necessary.  Others 
are  protected  by  special  statutes  bristling  with  pen- 
alties. .  .  .  As  it  is  at  present,  citizens  engaged  in 
the  ordinary  pursuits  of  business  are  sometimes  startled 
to  find  themselves  in  competition  with  corporations 
possessed  of  large  capital,  who  are  relieved  by  one  class 
of  laws  from  burdens  which  they  must  bear,  and  aided 
by  legislation  from  which  they  can  derive  no  bene- 
fit." .  .  .  "It  certainly  will  not  be  regarded  by  the 
general  assembly  of  the  State  of  Illinois  unreasonable 
to  claim  for  every  citizen  of  the  state  equality  before 
the  law.  To  secure  this,  it  is,  in  my  judgment,  of  great 
importance,  that  the  general  incorporation  laws  now  in 
force  can  be  revised  and  others  enacted  at  an  early  day, 
not  only  that  the  policy  of  the  state  may  be  carefully  set- 
tled with  respect  to  the  objects  for  which  corporations 
will  be  permitted,  but  the  powers  of  all  of  each  class 
may  be  well  defined  and  equal.  And  such  general  acts 
should  repeal  everything  in  any  special  law  contrary  to 
this  provision." 

In  speaking  of  the  railroad  corporations,  I  said:  "It 
cannot  have  escaped  the  attention  of  the  general  assem- 
bly, that  the  people  expect  that  more  than  ordinary  at- 
tention will  be  given  at  the  present  session  to  the  ad- 
justment of  many  questions  which  grow  out  of  the  rela- 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  287 

tions  of  railroads  to  the  business  of  the  people  of  the 
state,"  and  added  what  I  then  and  now  believe  to  be 
true:  "It  is  not  certain  that  all  real  grievances  of  this 
kind  may  not  be  amply  redressed  by  the  proper  applica- 
tion and  enforcement  of  existing  laws."  I  then  asserted 
that  the  right  of  the  railroad  corporations  to  carry  pas- 
sengers and  freight  was  incidental  to  their  right  to  con- 
struct and  operate  their  roads,  but  I  added  :  "Fixed  tolls 
are  permitted,  not  to  authorize  unreasonable  rates  to  be 
demanded,  but  that  reasonable  charges  may  be  con- 
veniently ascertained  and  collected,  while  the  whole 
matter  must,  in  the  nature  of  things,  be  subject  to  the 
final  control  of  the  state." 

But  that  part  of  the  inaugural  address  which  excited 
most  comment,  and  from  many  of  my  political  friends 
most  censure,  was  that  "one  of  the  most  unhappy  results 
of  the  great  conflict  through  which  the  nation  has  just 
passed,  is  the  confusion  produced  in  the  public  mind, 
as  to  the  relative  powers  and  duties  of  the  national  and 
state  governments. 

During  the  war  for  the  overthrow  of  the  most  ex- 
tensive and  completely  organized  rebellion  which  is 
known  to  history,  the  powers  of  the  national  govern- 
ment, and  the  people  who  adhered  to  it,  were  tested  to 
the  utmost.  It  was  natural  and  proper  that  under  the 
stress  of  the  contest  the  people,  in  view  of  the  para- 
mount interests  involved,  should  disregard  what  were  in 
comparison  mere  forms,  and  demand  of  the  national 
government  the  exercise  of  every  power  which  could  be 
employed  for  the  attainment  of  the  objects  of  the  strug- 
gle. Now  that  the  war  is  ended,  and  all  proper  objects 
attained,  the  public  welfare  demands  a  recurrence  to  the 
true  principles  that  underlie  our  system  of  government, 
and  one  of  the  best  established  and  most  distinctly 
recognized  of  these  is,  that  the  federal  government  is 
one  of  enumerated  and  limited  powers.  It  is  one  of  the 
enumerated  powers  of  the  federal  government  to  regu- 
late commerce  amongst  the  several  states,  .  .  .  and 


288  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

from  this  grant  of  power  an  attempt  is  made  to  infer 
that  of  creating  corporations,  with  the  power  to  enter 
any  of  the  states,  take  private  property  for  public  uses, 
and  prosecute  corporate  enterprises,  regardless  of  state 
authority. 

The  correctness  of  this  inference  is  not  admitted,  but 
if  it  was  conceded  to  be  just,  in  view  of  the  embarrass- 
ments it  would  create,  the  power  ought  not  to  be  exer- 
cised. Such  corporations  would  embarrass  the  opera- 
tion of  those  already  created  by  the  states.  They  would 
be  exempted  from  taxation  by  state  authority ;  in  short, 
the  state  would  have  no  power  by  taxation  or  otherwise 
to  retard,  impede,  burden,  or  in  any  manner  control  the 
operations  of  such  incorporations .  It  is  essential  to  the  use- 
fulness of  the  state  governments  that  their  just  authority 
should  be  respected  by  that  of  the  nation.  Perhaps  the 
expression  which  gave  most  offense  to  the  radical  lead- 
ers of  the  Republican  party  was  that  I  said  :  "Already 
the  authority  of  the  states  is,  in  a  measure,  paralyzed 
by  a  growing  conviction  that  all  their  powers  are  in 
some  sense  derivative  and  subordinate,  and  not  original 

7  O 

and  independent. 

"The  state  governments  are  a  part  of  the  American 
system  of  government ;  they  fill  a  well-defined  place, 
and  their  full  authority  must  be  respected  by  the  federal 
government,  if  it  is  expected  that  their  laws  will  be 
obeyed."  It  was  no  part  of  my  purpose,  in  the  use  of 
the  language  quoted  from  my  inaugural  address,  to  an- 
tagonize my  party  friends.  I  used  the  language  of  John 
Marshall,  who  had  done  more  to  give  practical  effect  to 
the  federal  constitution  than  any,  or  all  other  persons, 
and  I  had  spent  more  than  five  years  of  my  life  in  as- 
serting and  maintaining  that  the  national  constitution, 
and  the  laws  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  were  the  su- 
preme law  of  the  land,  anything  in  the  constitution  or 
the  laws  of  any  one  of  the  states  to  the  contrary  not- 
withstanding. I  felt  then,  as  I  do  now,  that  the  civil 
war  had  not  altered  the  constitution  or  enlarged  the 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  289 

powers  of  the  government  created  by  the  constitution, 
except  to  the  extent  of  its  express  amendments. 

It  ought  to  be  taken  into  the  account,  that,  from  Feb- 
ruary 18,  1865,  until  about  May  1,  1866,  I  had  com- 
manded the  Department  of  Kentucky,  under  martial 
law,  when  the  authority  to  the  military  commander  was 
practically  absolute.  I  know  that  I  exercised  the  power 
with  which  I  was  intrusted  with  the  single  purpose  of  sup- 
pressing the  crimes  which  attended  and  followed  the  civil 
war,  and  establishing  peace  and  order  in  the  department 
which  was  under  my  command  ;  still,  under  the  anoma- 
lous circumstances  which  surrounded  me,  I  was  compelled 
to  do  many  arbitrary  things  dictated  by  the  necessities 
of  the  situation. 

I  was,  therefore,  eager  to  re-establish  and  maintain 
orderly,  constitutional  government  in  Illinois,  as  well  as 
elsewhere  ;  and  I  reassert,  with  emphasis,  the  principles 
which  I  regarded  as  essential  to  the  maintenance  of 
popular  rights.  It  was  then,  as  now,  my  belief  that  the 
powers  of  the  states  are  original,  and  I  intended  to  op- 
pose a  belief,  then  much  more  prevalent  than  it  is  at 
present,  that  all  political  power  ultimately  resides  in  the 
government  of  the  United  States. 

My  language  excited  some  criticism,  but,  having 
taken  my  ground,  I  ignored  what  was  said,  with  indif- 
ference. 

I  have  elsewhere  observed  that  the  legislature,  under 
the  constitution  of  1847,  had  gradually  encroached  upon 
the  other  departments  of  the  government,  until  it  had 
become  the  supreme  power  in  the  state. 

Under  the  constitution  of  1818,  the  veto  was  lodged 
with  the  governor  and  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court 
as  a  council  of  revision,  but  a  majority  of  the  members 
elected  to  the  two  houses  respectively  could  pass  a  bill, 
notwithstanding  the  objections  of  the  council. 

The  constitution  of  1848  gave  to  the  governor  alone 
all  the  powers  of  the  council  of  revision,  but  it  provided 
that  a  majority  of  the  members  elected  to  the  senate  and 
19 


290  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

house  of  representatives  could  pass  a  bill,  notwithstand- 
ing the  objections  of  the  governor. 

In  my  inaugural  address,  I  referred  to  special  legis- 
lation as  one  of  the  evils  of  the  times  ;  I  said  :  "It  was 
the  expectation  of  the  framers  of  the  constitution  that 
liberal  laws  would  be  adopted  by  the  general  assembly 
of  the  state  under  which  incorporation  for  all  useful  ob- 
jects could  be  formed — with  uniform,  adequate,  well-reg- 
ulated powers  ;  and  it  was  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
the  general  assembly,  in  digesting  a  system,  would  be 
careful  to  impose  such  proper  and  reasonable  limitation 
upon  corporations  as  would  effectually  secure  the  rights 
of  the  people. 

"It  has  been  impossible  to  sufficiently  attend  to  these 
special  considerations  in  the  thousands  of  special  laws 
with  which  our  session  volumes  are  enlarged  beyond  all 
former  precedents." 

The  session  of  1869  went  beyond  all  of  its  predeces- 
sors in  the  matter  of  special  legislation.  Three  ponder- 
ous volumes  of  twenty-eight  hundred  pages  were  neces- 
sary for  the  publication  of  its  special  laws,  while  a  book 
of  but  four  hundred  and  eighty  pages  contains  all  that 
can  be  called  general  legislation.  Acting  upon  my  own 
views  of  the  duty  of  the  legislature  to  observe  the  rules 
prescribed  by  the  constitution,  I  was  compelled,  during 
the  session,  to  return  to  the  house,  in  which  bills  orig- 
inated, a  large  number  of  bills  which  were  violations  of 
some  of  its  plainest  provisions.  One  of  the  first  bills 
to  which  I  refused  my  assent  was  "An  act  to  authorize 
the  city  of  Bloomington  to  issue  its  bonds  and  levy  a  tax 
for  the  purpose  of  paying  for  the  grounds  purchased  in 
said  city  by  the  Chicago  and  Alton  Railroad  Company 
for  its  machine  shops."  It  appeared  that,  some  time 
before  the  passage  of  the  bill,  Judge  Davis  and  some 
other  citizens  of  Bloomington  had  promised  that,  if  the 
railroad  company  would  buy  the  necessary  land  and 
locate  the  shops  in  Bloomington,  the  city  should  repay 
the  cost  of  the  land  to  the  company,  with  ten  per  cent 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  291 

interest.  The  bill  required  an  issue  of  the  bonds  of  the 
city  and  the  taxation  of  the  people  to  pay  the  sura  of 
$50,000,  which  was  the  alleged  cost  of  the  lands  bought 
by  the  railroad  company  for  its  own  purposes,  with  the 
interest  thereon.  I  refused  to  approve  the  measure  upon 
the  ground  that  the  legislature  had  no  constitutional 
power  to  compel  the  people  of  Bloomington  to  submit  to 
a  tax  to  raise  money  for  these,  which  I  held  to  be  purely 
for  private  purposes. 

The  bill  was  passed,  notwithstanding  my  objections, 
and  was  followed  by  other  bills  of  like  character,  amongst 
others,  "An  act  to  legalize  the  issuing  of  bonds  by  the 
city  of  Kankakee  to  aid  the  "Douglas  Linen  Company," 
"an  act  authorizing  the  city  of  Canton  to  subscribe  to 
the  stock  of  a  hotel  company,"  "an  act  to  authorize  the 
city  of  Shelbyville  to  raise  money  by  a  special  tax  to 
invest  in  the  bonds  of  the  Shelbyville  Coal  Company." 
Other  bills  of  a  like  character  were  passed,  from  which 
I  was  compelled  to  withhold  my  approval. 

One  of  the  bills  passed  by  that  legislature  was  en- 
titled "an  act  to  amend  the  charter  of  the  town  of  Gol- 
conda,"  one  of  the  sections  of  which  imposed  a  penalty 
of  one  dollar  per  day  upon  each  person  bound  to  labor 
upon  the  streets  of  the  town,  and  made  the  neglect  or 
refusal  to  pay  the  fine  a  misdemeanor,  and  subjected  the 
defendant  to  an  indictment,  and  upon  conviction  to  a 
fine  of  not  less  than  ten  dollars  and  imprisonment  in 
the  county  jail  for  not  more  than  thirty  days.  I  said 
in  my  veto  message  that  "the  bill  is  contrary  to  the 
principle  of  humanity  and  justice,  and  makes  no  distinc- 
tion between  poverty  and  inability  to  pay  and  willful 
disregard  to  duty." 

Perhaps  my  message  of  April  14,  1869,  returning  a 
number  of  bills  to  the  senate,  with  my  objections,  will 
afford  the  best  proof  of  the  recklessness  of  the  legis- 
lature. 

"Senate  bill  No.  652,"  "an  act  in  relation  to  the 
Hamilton,  Lacon  and  Eastern  R.  R.  Co.  and  the  local 


292  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

taxes  thereon  in  the  counties  of  Livingstone,  Lasalle  and 
Marshall."  I  said  in  my  message,  "This  bill  provides 
that  all  the  property,  real  and  personal,  belonging  to 
the  corporations  named  in  the  title  shall  be  taxed  in  the 
same  proportion  as  other  property  in  the  counties,  towns, 
cities,  townships  and  districts  through  which  said  road 
may  pass,  and  all  taxes  so  levied,  except  state  taxes, 
shall  be  paid  by  the  said  railroad  company  on  the  entire 
line  of  road  direct  to  the  counties,  cities,  towns  and  town- 
ships which  shall  have  subscribed  to  the  capital  stock  of 
said  company  in  proportion  to  the  amount  they  may 
have  severally  subscribed."  I  said,  "It  is  not  com- 
petent, in  my  opinion,  for  the  general  assembly  to 
apply  local  taxes  levied  by  the  authority  of  counties 
and  other  municipal  corporations  upon  property  within 
their  corporate  limits  to  the  use  of  other  counties  and 
corporations.  No  principle  is  plainer  and  better  settled 
than  that  taxes  cannot  be  levied  upon  the  property  of 
one  local  corporation  for  the  benefit  of  another."  In 
reference  to  "Senate  bill  No.  485,"  "an  act  to  make 
township  17,  range  10  west,  to  subscribe  to  the  capital 
stock  of  the  Peoria,  Pekin  and  Jacksonville  Railroad 
Co.,"  I  said,  "The  object  of  this  bill  is  to  authorize  the 
inhabitants  of  a  congressional  township,  in  a  county  not 
under  township  organization,  to  subscribe  to  the  capital 
stock  of  the  corporation  named  in  the  title  of  this  bill. 
This  township  has  no  municipal  organization,  no  official 
machinery  by  which  it  can  do  the  act  proposed.  By 
itself  it  has  no  powers  and  owes  no  duties  of  a  municipal 
character,  and  with  respect  to  public  enterprises  like 
this,  its  inhabitants  are  mere  private  persons  and  cannot 
be  compelled  to  take  stock  in  a  railroad  company ;  can- 
not be  separated  from  the  county,  make  contracts,  or  be 
subjected  to  taxation,  nor  can  the  majority  bind  the 
minority,  or  charge  their  property  for  railroad  pur- 
poses." Senate  bill  No.  479,  "A  bill  for  an  act  to  in- 
corporate the  Peninsula  Real  Estate  and  Loan  Com- 
pany." I  said,  in  my  veto  message,  "This  corporation 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  293 

is   created  to  buy  and   sell  lands   and  speculate   gen- 
erally." 

"Senate  bill  No.  219,  an  act  to  amend  an  act  entitled 
an  act  relating  to  county  and  city  debts  and  provide  for 
the  payment  thereof  by  taxation  in  such  counties  and 
cities,  approved  February  13,  1865."  This  bill  is  of  so 
much  importance,  being  one  of  a  class  having  for  their 
ultimate  object  to  fix  upon  the  state  the  responsibility 
of  providing  for  the  payment  of  local  debts,  that  it  de- 
serves the  attentive  reconsideration  of  the  general  as- 
sembly. I  return  it  that  the  responsibility  of  such  a 
radical  change  in  the  relation  of  the  state  to  the  in- 
debtedness of  counties  and  cities,  may  be  assumed  by  the 
representatives  of  the  people,  if  in  their  judgment  such  a 
change  should  be  made. 

"Senate  bill  No.  391,  an  act  to  incorporate  the  Fair- 
field  Real  Estate  and  Land  Company."  This  bill  in- 
corporates an  association  for  dealing  in  lands.  * 'Senate 
bill  No.  162,  an  act  to  amend  an  act  entitled  an  act  to 
incorporate  the  Cairo  and  St.  Louis  Railroad  Company, 
approved  February  16, 1865."  "Section  three  of  this  bill 
proposes  to  authorize  subscriptions  by  the  trustees  of 
schools  in  townships,  in  counties  not  under  township 
organizations,  to  the  capital  stock  of  the  company.  For 
the  reasons  given  for  declining  to  sign  Senate  bill  No. 
285,  I  withhold  my  signature  from  this."  .  .  Senate 
bill  No.  261,  "an  act  to  incorporate  the  Hilton  Mining 
and  Manufacturing  Company."  "The  powers  conferred 
upon  the  corporation  created  by  this  bill  are  enormous." 

Acts  were  laid  before  me  for  the  incorporation  of  the 
towns  of  Bethalto  and  of  Venice,  in  Madison  county,  and 
of  the  city  of  Aledo,  in  Mercer  county.  These  bills  ex- 
empted certain  farm  lands  within  the  limits  of  the  cor- 
porations from  taxation  for  municipal  purposes,  which 
was  in  violation  of  the  state  constitution.  It  would  be 
tedious  even  to  give  the  titles  of  the  many  bills  from 
which  I  was  compelled  to  withhold  my  approval.  Some 
of  them,  like  the  House  bill  No.  161,  authorized  parts  of 


294  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

municipal  townships  to  subscribe  to  the  capital  stock  of 
a  railway  company.  I  quote  from  my  veto  message  : 
"By  the  provisions  of  the  first  section  of  the  second  of 
said  bills,  the  east  half  of  the  town  of  Fair  Ridge,  and 
west  half  of  the  town  of  Grand  Rapids  ...  all  that 
portion  of  the  town  of  Rutland,  lying  in  township  thirty- 
five,  north,  range  east  of  third  principal  meridian ;  all 
that  portion  of  the  town  of  Lena,  described  as  follows  : 
the  east  half  of  township  thirty-five  north  range,  five 
east  ...  all  that  portion  of  the  town  of  Aurora 
lying  west  of  the  east  channel  of  Fox  river  ;  all  that  por- 
tion of  the  town  of  Batavia  lying  east  of  the  east  chan- 
nel of  Fox  river,  were  authorized  to  subscribe  to  the 
capital  stock  of  a  railroad  company  ;  such  districts  had 
no  municipal  organization,  and  were  parts  of  author- 
ized and  original  townships." 

Of  necessity,  I  disapproved  all  such  bills,  although 
some  of  them  were  passed  notwithstanding  objections. 
There  were,  however,  two  measures  of  far  more  import- 
ance than  any  of  those  to  which  I  have  referred ;  the 
first  of  these  originated  in  the  house,  and  was  entitled, 
"An  act  in  relation  to  a  portion  of  the  submerged  lands, 
and  Lake  Park  grounds  lying  adjacent  to  the  shore  of 
Lake  Michigan,  on  the  eastern  frontage  of  Chicago;" 
the  other  originated  in  the  senate,  and  was  entitled, 
"An  act  to  fund  and  provide  for  paying  the  railroad 
debts  of  counties,  townships,  cities  and  towns." 

It  may  be  said  with  truth,  that  after  these  measures 
appeared,  they  influenced,  if  they  did  not  control,  all 
the  legislation  of  the  session.  The  first  of  these  meas- 
ures offered  to  confer  upon  the  common  council  of  the 
city  of  Chicago,  three-fourths  of  the  aldermen  elect  con- 
curring, full  power  and  authoritiy  to  sell  all  the  right, 
title  and  interest  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  in  and  to  so 
much  of  fractional  section  fifteen  in  township  39  N.  of 
range  14  E.  of  third  principal  meridian,  in  the  city  of 
Chicago,  as  is  situated  east  of  Michigan  avenue,  and 
north  of  Park  Row,  and  south  of  the  south  line  of  Mon- 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  295 

roe  street,  and  west  of  a  line  running  parallel  with  and 
four  hundred  feet  east  of  the  west  line  of  Michigan 
avenue,  being  a  strip  of  land  about  three  hundred  and 
ten  feet  in  width,  and  that  contains  about  thirty-two 
acres,  and  to  apply  the  proceeds  of  any  sale  that  may 
be  made  of  said  land  to  the  purchase  and  improvement 
of  parks  in  each  of  the  three  divisions  of  that  city,  in 
proportions  to  be  ascertained  by  means  provided  by  the 
bill.  The  bill  also  offers  to  confirm  the  right  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  under  the  grant 
from  the  state  in  its  charter,  and  under  and  by  virtue  of 
its  appropriation,  occupancy,  use  and  control,  and  the 
riparian  ownership  incident  to  such  grant,  appropria- 
tion, occupancy,  use  and  control,  in  and  to  the  lands 
submerged,  or  otherwise  lying  east  of  the  said  line  run- 
ning parallel  with  and  four  hundred  feet  east  of  the  west 
line  of  Michigan  avenue,  in  fractional  sections  ten  and 
fifteen,  township  and  range  aforesaid  ;  and  further  offers 
to  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  all  the  right  and 
title  of  the  State  of  Illinois  in  and  to  the  submerged 
lands  constituting  the  bed  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  lying 
east  of  the  tracks  and  breakwater  of  said  company,  for 
the  distance  of  one  mile,  and  between  the  south  line  of 
the  south  pier  in  Chicago  harbor  extended  eastwardly, 
and  a  line  extended  eastwardly  from  the  south  line  of 
lot  twenty-one,  south  of,  and  near  the  round-house  and 
machine  shops  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company, 
in  fee  forever,  upon  condition  that  the  fee  of  the  prop- 
erty thus  granted  shall  be  held  by  said  company  in  per- 
petuity, and  the  further  condition  that  all  gross  receipts 
from  the  use,  profits,  leases  or  otherwise  of  said  lands,  or 
the  improvements  thereon,  shall  form  a  part  of  the  gross 
proceeds,  receipts  and  income  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road Company,  upon  which  said  company  shall  forever 
pay  into  the  state  treasury,  semi-annually,  the  per  centum 
provided  for  in  its  charter,  and  upon  the  further  pro- 
vision that  nothing  in  the  bill  contained  shall  authorize 
obstructions  to  Chicago  harbor  or  impair  the  public  right 


296  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EAKNEST  LIFE. 

of  navigation,  nor  exempt  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company,  its  lessees  or  assigns,  from  any  act  of  the 
general  assembly  which  may  hereafter  be  passed  regu- 
lating the  rates  of  wharfage  and  dockage  to  be  charged 
in  said  harbor. 

The  tract  offered  to  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company  extends  along  the  shore  of  the  lake  for  a  dis- 
tance of  nine  thousand  five  hundred  and  eighty  feet,  and 
contains  a  superficial  area  of  about  one  thousand  and 
fifty  acres.  In  addition  to  the  provisions  of  the  bill  al- 
ready stated,  it  offers  all  the  right  and  title  of  the  State 
of  Illinois  in  and  to  the  lands  submerged  or  otherwise 
lying  north  of  the  south  line  of  Monroe  street,  and  south 
of  the  line  of  Randolph  street,  and  between  the  east  line 
of  Michigan  avenue  and  the  track  and  roadway  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  and  constituting 
parts  of  fractional  sections  ten  and  fifteen,  before  men- 
tioned, in  fee  to  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company, 
the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  Railroad  Company 
and  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad  Company,  their  suc- 
cessors and  assigns,  for  the  erection  thereon  of  a  passen- 
ger depot,  and  for  such  other  purposes  as  the  business  of 
said  companies  may  require,  with  the  proviso  that  upon 
all  the  gross  receipts  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company  from  the  leases  of  its  interests  of  said  grounds 
or  improvements  thereon  or  other  uses  of  the  same,  the 
per  centum  provided  for  in  the  charter  of  said  company 
shall  be  forever  paid  in  conformity  with  the  requirements 
of  said  charter ;  and  it  is  further  provided,  that  in  con- 
sideration of  the  grant  to  the  Illinois  Central,  Chicago, 
Burlington  and  Quincy,  and  Michigan  Central  Railroad 
Companies  of  the  land  aforesaid,  the  said  companies  are 
required  to  pay  to  the  city  of  Chicago  the  sum  of  eight 
thousand  dollars,  to  be  paid  in  quarterly  installments  as 
stated  in  the  bill. 

This  tract  fronts  on  Michigan  avenue  for  about  the 
distance  of  thirteen  hundred  and  thirty-two  feet,  and 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  297 

runs  back  to  the  track  or  roadway  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad  Company  three  hundred  and  ten  feet. 

The  bill,  it  will  be  observed,  offers  to  the  grantees  of 
each  of  the  parcels  of  property  it  describes  a  fee-simple 
title,  and  by  implication  asserts  for  the  state  a  capacity 
to  confer  upon  each  of  its  proposed  grantees  the  absolute 
ownership  of  the  property. 

The  message  then  gave  a  history  of  the  title  of  the 
State  of  Illinois  to  the  lands  granted  to  the  railroads  by 
the  bill.  It  referred  to  the  several  acts  of  congress 
which  granted  certain  of  the  public  lands  of  the  State  of 
Illinois,  in  aid  of  the  construction  of  a  canal  to  unite  the 
waters  of  the  Illinois  river  with  those  of  Lake  Michigan, 
so  that,  by  the  approval  of  the  president  of  the  United 
States,  fractional  section  fifteen,  township  thirty-nine, 
north  of  range  fourteen,  east  of  the  third  principal 
meridian,  became  the  property  of  the  State  of  Illinois  for 
the  purposes  specified  in  the  acts  of  congress  dividing 
"the  lands  into  lots,  streets  and  alleys,"  and,  on  July 
20,  1836,  filed  a  plat  of  the  same  as  required  by  the  act 
providing  for  recording  of  town  plats. 

.  .  .  The  history  of  the  tract  of  land  described  as 
a  part  of  fractional  section  in  township  thirty-nine  north 
range  fourteen  east  is  brief :  The  site  of  Fort  Dear- 
born—it was  separated  from  the  bulk  of  the  public  lands 
of  the  United  States  by  being  reserved  for  military  pur- 
poses. .  .  .  Under  the  authority  of  the  United 
States,  it  was  laid  out  into  blocks,  lots,  streets  and  pub- 
lic grounds  as  Fort  Dearborn  addition  to  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago, and  a  map  or  plat  of  the  addition  was  prepared, 
certified,  and  acknowledged  and  recorded  in  the  recorder's 
office  in  Cook  county  on  June  7,  1839,  according  to  the 
laws  of  the  state. 

On  this  map,  the  lands  described  as  from  Randolph 
street  to  the  center  of  Madison  street  is  delineated  as  an 
entire  tract,  and  upon  the  map  of  the  addition  as  re- 
corded is  written,  "Public  ground,  forever  to  remain  free 
of  buildings." 


298  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"From  the  foregoing  account,  it  will  be  seen  by  the 
acts  of  the  United  States,  the  proprietor  of  the  south- 
west fractional  quarter  of  section  ten,  and  of  the  State 
of  Illinois,  which  was  in  the  same  legal  sense,  the  pro- 
prietor of  fractional  section  fifteen,  all  of  the  lands  de- 
scribed in  the  first  and  fourth  sections  of  this  bill,  ex- 
tending from  Randolph  street,  along  lake  shore  to  Park 
Row,  were  dedicated  to  public  uses  forever.  .  .  . 
The  State  of  Illinois  and  the  United  States,  not  as  sov- 
ereign governments,  but  as  the  mere  proprietors  of  lands 
to  promote  their  own  interests,  in  the  sale  of  those  lands, 
offered  to  the  public,  with  their  blocks  and  lots,  the  ad- 
vantages of  streets  and  avenues,  and  by  such  offers  they 
are  bound  forever. 

"But  the  effects  of  these  acts  of  dedication  by  the  State 
of  Illinois  and  the  United  States,  are  different  in  respect 
to  the  subsequent  power  of  either  government  over  the 
dedicated  property. 

"The  State  of  Illinois,  after  it  parted  with  its  beneficial 
proprietary  title  to  the  land  dedicated  to  public  uses,  re- 
tained all  its  political  authority  over  it,  with  the  power 
to  control  and  dispose  of  it,  if  necessary,  for  proper 
uses.  ...  In  this  case,  the  United  States,  for  a 
valuable  consideration  realized,  in  the  form  of  an  en- 
hanced price  for  the  adjacent  and  abutting  lands,  di- 
vested itself  of  the  title  to  the  tract  marked  'public 
grounds,' by  a  complete  and  irrevocable  act  of  aliena- 
tion, and  from  that  moment  the  dedicated  lands  became 
devoted  to  public  uses,  and  like  all  other  public  property 
of  the  state,  including  that  of  section  fifteen,  dedicated 
by  the  canal  commissioners,  became  subject  to  the  para- 
mount authority  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  to  control  the 
property,  or  dispose  of  it,  subject  to  the  obligations  of 
good  faith  and  justice,  that  it  shall  not  be  devoted  to  a 
use  substantially  different  from  that  to  which  it  was  dedi- 
cated. .  .  .  The  power  of  the  general  assembly  as 
thus  stated,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  town  of  Chicago, 
since  these  dedications  were  made,  has  become  a  great 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  299 

and  flourishing  city,  filled  to  overflowing  with  a  busy, 
industrious  population,  which,  if  gathered  into  these 
now  straitened  and  confined  public  grounds,  would  per- 
haps cover  every  available  foot  within  their  boundaries, 
and  that  the  commerce  of  thousands  of  miles  of  tributary 
country  which  centers  there,  is  now  clamoring  for  the 
whole  lake  front,  from  Randolph  to  Twelfth  street,  for 
its  own  useful,  but  unsightly  purposes,  may  well  be  ex- 
ercised to  authorize  the  sale  of  these  public  grounds  for 
their  value  for  commercial  and  business  uses,  and  the 
appropriation  of  the  money  realized  from  such  sales  to 
the  purchase  and  improvement  of  larger  and  more  con- 
venient public  grounds.  .  .  .  And  the  general  assembly 
clearly  appreciate  the  duty  with  respect  to  the  property 
described  in  the  first  section  of  the  bill,  but  in  respect  to 
that  mentioned  in  the  fourth  section,  one  essential  con- 
dition of  the  judicious  and  proper  disposition  of  that 
portion  of  the  public  grounds  which  lie  between  the 
south  line  of  Randolph  street  is,  by  the  provisions  of 
this  bill,  disregarded.  The  State  of  Illinois,  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  this  trust,  is  bound  by  every  considera- 
tion to  exercise  the  utmost  prudence  and  good  faith  ;  and 
the  obligations  of  prudence  and  good  faith  require  that 
this  property  shall  not  be  sold  for  less  than  its  full 
market  value. 

"By  the  provisions  of  the  fourth  section  of  the  bill,  the 
land  described  as  lying  north  of  the  south  line  of  Mon- 
roe street,  and  south  of  the  south  line  of  Randolph 
street,  and  between  the  east  line  of  Michigan  avenue, 
and  the  track  and  roadway  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road Company,  is  offered  to  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company  and  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  Rail- 
road Company  in  fee,  and  in  consideration  of  such  grant, 
the  companies  above  named  are  required  to  pay  to  the 
city  of  Chicago  the  sum  of  eight  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, payable  in  four  equal  installments,  at  three,  six, 
nine  and  twelve  months,  from  and  after  the  passage  of 
the  act,  to  be  applied  to  the  park  fund  of  the  city ;  but 


300  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  sixth  section  of  the  bill  authorizes  the  common  coun- 
cil of  the  city  to  quitclaim  and  release  to  the  railroad 
companies  already  mentioned,  any  and  all  claim  and  in- 
terest which  the  city  may  have  in  and  upon  said  lands 
by  virtue  of  improvements  or  otherwise,  and  in  case  the 
said  common  council  shall  refuse,  for  the  space  of  four 
months,  to  quit  and  release  the  claims  of  the  city  to  said 
lands,  then  the  railroad  companies  are  discharged  from 
all  obligation  to  pay  the  balance  remaining  to  the  city. 
I  postpone  the  inquiry  as  to  the  true  value  of  this  prop- 
erty tp  consider  this  most  extraordinary  provision. 

"By  the  fourth  section  of  the  bill,  the  railroad  compa- 
nies are  absolutely  and  unconditionally  invested  with 
what  is  asserted  in  the  bill  to  be  a  fee-simple  title  to  all 
this  property,  to  be  paid  for  in  quarterly  installments  of 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  the  second  of  which 
falls  due  six  months  after  the  passage  of  the  bill ; 
but  it  is  provided  in  the  bill  that  if  the  common  council 
shall  not,  within  four  months  of  the  passage  of  the  bill 
(and  before  the  second  installment  falls  due) ,  quitclaim 
and  release  all  the  title  and  interest  of  the  city  and  to 
the  property,  then  the  said  companies  shall  be  discharged 
from  all  obligations  to  pay  the  balance  then  unpaid  to 
said  city. 

"By  the  bill  the  railroad  company  acquires  a  fee-simple 
title  to  the  property.  If  the  common  council  of  the 
city,  influenced  by  any  motive  whatever,  shall  decline 
for  the  space  of  four  months  to  release  and  quitclaim  the 
interests  of  the  city,  the  said  railroad  companies  are  re- 
leased from  the  payment  of  three-fourths  (six  hundred 
thousand  dollars)  the  consideration,  and  yet  remain, 
without  any  further  payment  of  the  price  stipulated,  the 
owners  in  fee-simple  of  this  valuable  property  forever. 
.  .  .  As  has  been  said,  in  reply  to  this,  that  if  the 
authorities  of  the  city  of  Chicago  declined  to  release  the 
title  and  interest  of  the  city  in  the  property,  that  title 
and  interest  will  still  remain  in  the  city ;  but  if  this  bill 
effects  what  the  State  of  Illinois  professed  by  its  language 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  301 

to  be  able  to  do,  and  which,  upon  incontrovertible  prin- 
ciples it  can  do,  invest  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and 
other  companies,  with  the  title  to  the  property  in  fee, 
what  benefit  will  the  public  use  to  which  the  land  is  dedi- 
cated, derive  from  the  continued  retention  by  the  city  of 
its  barren  and  profitless  claims?  There  can  be  no  well- 
founded  doubt  but  that  this  bill,  if  it  becomes  a  law, 
will  vest  in  the  railroad  companies  perfect  title  to  all  the 
property  described  in  the  fourth  section  thereof,  and  I 
am  well  satisfied  that  this  bill,  on  account  of  the  pro- 
visions of  the  fifth  and  sixth  sections  already  mentioned, 
ought  not  to  become  a  law. 

'  'As  I  have  before  said,  it  is  an  essential  condition  of  any 
proper  disposition  of  this  property  that  its  full  value  shall 
be  realized,  and  be  applied  to  the  acquisition  of  other  pub- 
lic grounds.  I  am  assured  by  the  highest  authorities  upon 
the  subject  of  the  value  of  real  estate  in  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago, that  the  property  described  in  the  fourth  section  of 
this  bill,  and  offered  by  the  terms  of  that  section  to  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  the  Chicago,  Burling- 
ton and  Quincy  Railroad  Company,  and  the  Michigan 
Central  Railroad  Company  in  fee,  the  sum  of  eight  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  ($800,000) ,  has  a  market  value  of 
two  million  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  ($2,600,000) . 

"I  have  before  me  a  communication  from  the  board 
of  public  works  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  of  date  March 
2,  1869,  addressed  to  the  Hon.  John  B.  Rice,  mayor  of 
the  city,  in  which  the  following  language  occurs  : 

"  'The  value  of  the  tract  of  land  in  question,  that  be- 
tween Randolph  and  Monroe  streets,  and  between  Michi- 
gan avenue  and  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  the  board 
estimates  at  $2,600,000,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  appended 
letter  of  several  of  the  most  prominent  real  estate  deal- 
ers. This  estimate  is  coincided  with  by  them.' 

".  .  .  If  the  railroad  companies  named  in  the  fourth 
and  following  sections  of  this  bill  require  this  property 
for  the  purpose  of  their  business,  under  the  circum- 
stances that  it  is  no  longer  useful  for  the  purposes  of  its 


302  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

original  dedication,  they  ought  to  be  permitted  to  take 
it  upon  the  single  condition  of  paying  its  fair  market 
value.  Such  a  proposition,  coupled  with  the  provision 
for  the  application  of  the  proceeds  to  a  use  substantially 
the  same  as  that  contemplated  in  the  original  dedica- 
tion, will  meet  my  approval.  .  .  .  The  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad  Company,  under  an  arrangement  with  the 
common  council  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  acquired  by  the 
right  to  lay  down,  construct,  and  maintain,  within  the 
limits  of  the  city,  and  along  the  margin  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan, within  and  adjacent  to  the  same,  a  railroad,  with 
one  or  more  tracks. 

"By  the  ordinance  of  the  city  which  conferred  this 
privilege  upon  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company, 
it  was  required  to  enter  the  city  at  or  near  the  intersec- 
tion of  its  south  boundary  with  Lake  Michigan,  and 
following  the  shore  on  or  near  the  margin  of  the  lake 
northerly  to  the  southern  bounds  of  the  open  space, 
known  as  Lake  Park,  in  front  of  canal  section  fifteen,  to 
such  grounds  as  said  company  may  acquire  between 
Randolph  street  and  the  Chicago  river.  And  the  said 
company  was  further  authorized  to  enter  upon  and  use 
in  perpetuity  for  its  said  line  of  road,  and  any  other 
works  necessary  to  protect  the  same  from  the  lake,  a 
width  of  three  hundred  feet  from  the  southern  boundary 
of  said  public  grounds  near  Twelfth  street  to  the  north- 
ern line  of  Randolph  street,  the  inner  or  west  side  of  the 
grounds  to  be  used  by  said  company  to  be  not  less  than 
four  hundred  feet  east  from  the  west  line  of  Michigan 
avenue  and  parallel  thereto ;  and  other  privileges  were 
conceded  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  by  this 
ordinance  that  need  not  be  particularly  stated. 
That  which  is  described  in  the  last  clause  of  the  third 
section  of  this  bill  as  'the  submerged  lands  constituting 
the  bed  of  Lake  Michigan,'  and  by  that  description 
granted,  in  fee,  to  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Com- 
pany, is  indeed  a  part  of  the  navigable  waters  of  the 
lake.  As  I  have  stated,  the  superficial  area  of  the  tract 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  303 

embraced  in  the  descriptive  words  of  the  section,  is  about 
one  thousand  and  fifty  acres,  covered  by  the  waters  of 
the  lake  to  an  average  depth  of  sixteen  feet,  but  in  fact 
varying  from  ten  to  twenty-four  feet. 

"This  tract  is  not  'land'  in  any  technical  sense,  and 
has  never  been  so  treated  by  the  United  States  or  the 
State  of  Illinois.  Like  the  soil  beneath  all  navigable 
waters  of  the  state,  it  belongs  to  the  state  as  the  sovereign, 
and  does  not  pass  by  technical  grant,  but  by  law. 

"This  being  the  character  of  the  interest  of  the  state  in 
the  bed  of  navigable  waters,  the  land  is  held  subservient 
to  the  public  right  of  navigation,  and  any  guarantee  of 
the  state  must  take  subject  to  all  such  servitudes,  and 
every  use  of  the  property  must  be  consistent  with,  or  ii 
not  subordinate  to,  public  rights. 

"The  importance  of  this  property,  in  view  of  the  uses 
to  which  it  may  and  indeed  must  be  devoted,  cannot  be 
easily  estimated  or  overrated.  Extending  along  the  lake 
shore  from  the  Chicago  river  for  a  distance  of  nearly  two 
miles,  and  for  a  distance  of  one  mile  from  the  shore,  it 
covers  the  great  business  center  of  the  city. 
Upon  the  authority  of  a  distinguished  engineer,  there 
is  nothing  in  the  condition  of  what  are  known  as  sub- 
merged lands,  described  in  the  first  section  of  the  bill, 
to  oppose  a  serious  difficulty  to  the  construction  of  a 
harbor,  and  it  is  capable  of  being  made  to  afford  seventy 
thousand  lineal  feet  of  dock  front,  each  foot  of  the  front 
to  have  three  hundred  feet  in  depth,  including  land  and 
water  ;  and  it  is  probable  that  such  property  as  this,  with 
improvements  that  may  be  made  at  a  cost  of  not  exceed- 
ing two  hundred  dollars  per  front  foot,  including  the  ex- 
pense of  a  substantial  sea  wall,  would,  at  an  early  day, 
equal  in  value  the  best  of  that  description  of  property 
in  Chicago,  which  has  already  reached  one  thousand 
dollars  a  front  foot ;  and  much  of  it  that  has  already 
reached  that  point  is  still  advancing  in  market  value. 

"There  are,  I  repeat,  at  this  time  no  means  in  exist- 
ence by  which  the  value  of  this  property  can  be  fixed. 


304  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

while  its  commercial  importance  is  equally  difficult  of 
estimation. 

".  .  .  If  these  views  are  correct,  then  it  becomes 
the  more  urgent  duty  of  the  general  assembly  to  couple 
with  any  grant  that  is  made  to  any  parties,  such  restric- 
tions as  will,  as  far  as  human  foresight  and  prudence 
can,  protect  the  rights  of  the  state  and  relieve  the  com- 
merce that  must  pass  through  that  channel  from  vexa- 
tious and  oppressive  burdens. 

'  'This  bill  does  not  sufficiently  secure  these  objects.  It 
does  not  require  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  to  do  any 
act  or  thing  with  respect  to  the  improvement  of  these 
navigable  waters ;  but,  worse  than  this,  it  deprives  the 
State  of  Illinois  hereafter  insisting  upon  such  improve- 
ments. 

".  .  .  There  should  be  a  distinct  provision  in  any 
bill  granting  this  property  to  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road Company,  that  the  property  itself,  and  all  the  im- 
provements to  be  made  thereon,  should  be  subject  to 
state  and  municipal  taxation. 

"„  .  .  The  public  property  proposed  to  be  disposed 
of  by  this  bill  is  of  great  value,  and  for  myself  I  merely 
adopt  and  apply  for  my  government  the  rules  that  I 
think  would  influence  me  if  my  duties  with  respect  to 
this  property  were  personal  and  not  official : 

"1.  That  as  the  objects  originally  contemplated  in  the 
dedication  of  the  property  in  sections  ten  and  fifteen  to 
public  uses,  in  view  of  the  altered  condition  of  things, 
are  no  longer  attainable  by  its  specific  use,  it  may  and 
probably  ought  to  be  sold  and  the  proceeds  applied  to  ac- 
complish more  effectually  the  purposes  and  objects  to 
which  it  was  dedicated. 

"2.  That  in  any  alienation  of  the  property  by  the  state 
or  under  its  authority,  its  full  and  fair  market  value 
should  be  required  to  be  paid  by  the  purchaser. 

"3.  That  no  'rights'  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company  should  be  confirmed  until  fully  defined  and 
understood. 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  305 

"4.  That  no  grant  shall  be  made  of  the  submerged 
lands  constituting  the  bed  of  Lake  Michigan,  which  does 
not  couple  with  the  grant  the  condition  that  the  work 
of  improvement  shall  be  commenced  within  reasonable 
time  and  prosecuted  with  good  faith  so  as  to  meet  the 
fair  demands  of  business. 

"5.  That  the  right  be  reserved  to  the  state,  for  the  re- 
lief of  commerce,  to  limit  the  net  profits  to  be  derived 
from  any  such  works. 

"6.  That  the  state  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  seven  per 
cent  of  the  gross  receipts  from  the  property  granted  and 
from  all  improvements  thereon. 

"7.  That  the  property  shall  be  in  all  respects  subject 
to  taxation. 

"For  want  of  essential  provisions,  and  such  details  as 
would  give  them  effect,  I  return  this  bill  to  the  house  of 
representatives  without  my  approval." 

The  legislature  of  1871  had  passed  an  act  to  author- 
ize the  city  of  Quincy  to  create  the  indebtedness  referred 
to  in  the  twenty-fourth  section  of  the  schedule  of  the 
constitution,  to  provide  for  the  payment  thereof  and 
validating  acts  of  said  city  relating  thereto,  which  au- 
thorize the  city  of  Quincy  to  subscribe  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars  ($500,000)  to  the  capital  stock  of  the 
Quincy,  Missouri,  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  which 
was  a  Missouri  corporation,  and  the  railroad  was  alto- 
gether in  the  State  of  Missouri,  "for  which  I  was  com- 
pelled to  withhold  my  approval.  I  said  in  my  message, 
"the  legal  effect  of  the  portion  of  the  bill  thus  quoted  is 
to  authorize  the  city  council  of  the  city  to  raise  by  tax- 
ation on  the  property  within  that  city  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars  ($500,000)  to  be  paid  over  to  an  in- 
corporation created  by  the  State  of  Missouri,  to  be  ex- 
pended in  the  construction  of  a  railroad  in  that  state." 

"It  seems  to  me  that  such  a  law  is  without  a  well-con- 
sidered precedent,  unsound  in  principle  and  in  conflict 
with  the  constitution  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  Taxes  are 
20 


306  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

charges  or  burdens  imposed  by  the  legislative  power  of 
a  state,  and  in  respect  to  taxation  the  powers  of  the  gen- 
eral assembly  are  subject  only  to  the  restriction  con- 
tained in  the  constitution  and  to  the  fundamental  rule 
that  underlies  all  republican  governments,  that  they 
shall  be  imposed  only  for  public  purposes,  and  though 
the  lines  that  divide  public  purposes,  for  which  taxes  may 
be  rightfully  imposed  from  those  of  a  private  character 
for  which  taxation  is  forbidden,  are  often  so  indistinct 
or  doubtful  that  the  judicial  department  has  generally 
felt  bound  to  accept  the  decision  of  the  legislature ;  yet 
it  is  not  necessary  nor  is  it  the  duty  of  the  governor, 
while  in  the  exercise  of  his  functions  as  an  integral  part 
of  the  legislative  department  of  the  state,  under  the 
constitution,  to  yield  his  own  convictions  upon  the 
point  of  the  true  nature  of  a  proposed  tax  to  the  views 
of  the  general  assembly,  as  declared  in  a  bill  submitted 
to  him  for  his  approval.  To  him  that  question,  as  well 
as  all  others  relating  to  the  expediency  or  policy  of  any 
proposed  law,  is  open ;  and  if  he  for  any  reason  does 
not  approve  the  bill  he  is  forbidden  to  sign  the  same,  but 
must  return  it  to  the  house  in  which  it  originated  with 
his  objections. 

"The  purpose  for  which  it  is  proposed  to  impose  this 
burden  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Quincy  is  not  public, 
when  tested  by  the  constitution  of  the  State  of  Illinois 
or  by  the  rules  by  which  the  true  character  of  a  tax  is 
determined.  Taxes  for  any  general  public  purpose  may 
be  imposed  by  law  upon  the  people  of  the  whole  state, 
but  it  is  not  within  the  power  of  the  general  assembly 
to  impose  the  whole  burden  of  a  public  duty  upon  any 
one — nor,  indeed,  upon  any  number — of  its  local  sub- 
divisions. 

"If,  then,  it  could  be  supposed  to  be  the  duty  of  the 
state  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  public  works  within 
the  limits  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  authorized  by  that 
state  and  carried  on  by  its  agencies,  it  would  be  necessary, 
under  the  constitution,  that  such  aid  should  be  afforded 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  307 

from  the  general  treasury,  upon  terms  to  be  arranged 
and  adjusted  by  the  authorities  of  the  respective  states ; 
but  under  the  provisions  of  this  bill  the  people  of  one 
of  the  cities  of  this  state  are  to  be  compelled  to  raise 
money  by  taxation,  to  be  used  by  the  agents  of  the  State 
of  Missouri  in  aid  of  a  public  work  in  that  state.  This 
burden  is  to  be  imposed  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  city 
of  Quincy  by  the  general  assembly  of  Illinois,  without 
any  provision  for  their  rights  or  interests. 

"But  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to  render  an  imposition 
upon  one  of  the  cities  of  the  state  a  legal  tax,  not  only 
that  it  should  be  for  a  public  purpose,  but  it  must  be  for 
a  public  corporate  purpose.  The  objects  and  purposes 
for  which  'municipal  corporations'  are  created  are  so 
well  understood,  that  no  more  precise  statement  of  them 
is  necessary  than  is  implied  in  the  very  name  that  is  em- 
ployed in  the  constitution  to  designate  them  ;  and  no 
taxes  can  be  imposed  exclusively  upon  property  within 
their  limits,  except  for  purposes  strictly  local  and  cor- 
porate. The  inhabitants  of  cities,  considered  as  mem- 
bers of  the  state,  or  of  the  counties  and  townships  in  which 
such  cities  are  situated,  can  only  be  taxed  with  and  like 
other  inhabitants  of  the  state,  or  of  the  county,  or  of 
the  township  of  which  the  city  is  a  part,  and  for  objects 
to  which  all  other  inhabitants  of  the  same  districts  are 
bound  to  contribute  ;  but  taxes  can  be  imposed  upon  the 
inhabitants  of  cities,  as  such,  for  objects  that  concern 
the  city  alone  ;  and  it  is  not  one  of  the  corporate  duties 
of  the  city  of  Quincy  to  raise  money  by  taxation  to  be 
paid  to  agencies  created  by  the  State  of  Missouri,  to  be 
employed  in  the  construction  of  highways  or  railways  in 
that  state. 

"The  construction  of  a  railway  in  the  State  of  Missouri 
is  a  duty  external  to  the  city  of  Quincy,  and  is  not  one 
of  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  created,  and  it  follows 
from  this  that  the  general  assembly  cannot  compel  the 
inhabitants  of  a  city,  or  any  of  them,  to  contribute  to 
such  an  enterprise.  .  .  .  The  only  answers  that  can  be 


308  THE  STORY  OF  AN   EARNEST  LIFE. 

made  to  these  objections,  with  even  the  semblance  of 
plausibility,  are  : 

"First.  That,  under  the  twenty-fourth  section  of  the 
schedule  of  the  constitution,  the  power  is  reserved  to  the 
general  assembly  'to  authorize  the  city  of  Quincy  to 
create  any  indebtedness  for  railroad  or  municipal  pur- 
poses for  which  the  people  of  said  city  shall  have  voted, 
and  to  which  they  shall  have  given  by  such  vote  their 
assent  prior  to  December  13,  1869,'  which  power  is  de- 
fined, in  the  proviso  to  the  section,  to  be  'an  authority 
in  the  general  assembly,  under  the  present  constitution, 
to  authorize  the  city  to  contract  the  debts  referred  to  as 
completely  as  the  legislature  could  have  done  so  under 
the  constitution  of  1848.'  But  the  whole  extent  of  the 
exception  made  by  the  twenty-fourth  section  of  the 
schedule  is,  that  the  general  assembly  shall  have  power, 
with  respect  to  the  authorization  of  the  debt,  that  was 
possessed  by  the  general  assembly  under  the  old  consti- 
tution. The  exception  operated,  no  doubt,  to  remove  the 
particular  debts  beyond  the  effect  of  the  provisions  of  the 
constitution  that  prohibit  municipal  corporations  from 
taking  stock  in  railroad  incorporations,  and  that  limit 
their  power  to  contract  debts,  .  .  .  but  it  does  not 
extend  beyond  that  point ;  and  cannot  be  relied  upon  to 
support  a  law  that  imposes  a  tax  upon  the  people  of 
Quincy  that  no  legislature  could  or  can  pass ;  nor  will 
it  justify  a  disregard  of  those  provisions  of  the  constitu- 
tion which  prescribe  the  methods  to  be  pursued  by  the 
general  assembly  in  the  matter  of  laws." 

The  bill  was  passed,  notwithstanding  my  objections, 
and  I  learned,  in  1888,  that  they  had  completed  the  pay- 
ment of  the  debt. 

Before  January  13,  1872,  the  legislature  had  passed 
a  bill  for  "An  act  to  regulate  the  manner  of  applying 
for  reprieves,  commutations  and  pardons,"  from  which  I 
was  compelled  to  withhold  my  approval. 

In  my  message,  I  said  :  ".  .  .  It  will,  no  doubt,  be 
admitted  that  it  would  be  a  fatal  objection  to  any  meas- 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  3Q9 

ure  intended  to  regulate  the  manner  of  applying  for  re- 
prieves, commutations  and  pardons,  that  its  operations 
would  be  to  restrict  the  power  of  the  governor  in  the  de- 
termination of  questions  confided  to  his  discretion  by 
the  constitution,  or  that  its  effect  would  be  to  deprive 
persons  of  the  power  to  make  application  to  the  gov- 
ernor. An  act  of  the  general  assembly  that  prohibited 
all  applications  to  the  governor  by  persons  convicted  of 
crimes  for  a  reprieve,  commutation  or  pardon,  would  be 
palpably  unconstitutional,  and  laws  that  imposed  impos- 
sible conditions  upon  applicants  would  be  equally  objec- 
tionable ;  and  such,  it  appears  to  me,  would  be  the  effect 
of  this  bill  if  it  becomes  a  law.  The  first  section  of  the 
bill  requires  that  every  application  to  the  governor  of 
the  state  for  a  reprieve,  commutation  or  pardon  shall  be 
by  a  petition  in  writing,  and  the  second  section  directs 
that  notice  of  such  application  be  given  to  the  state's 
attorney  of  the  city  or  county  where  the  offense  was 
committed,  at  least  three  weeks  before  such  application 
to  the  governor ;  and  it  is  made  the  duty  of  the  state's 
attorney  to  give  such  notice  to  the  parties  interested  in 
prosecuting  said  party  committed.  .  .  .  The  peni- 
tentiaries and  jails  are  but  miniature  representations  of 
the  entire  world,  as  they  contain  persons  of  advanced 
age  and  almost  childish  youth,  and  every  grade  of  char- 
acter, shading  away  from  the  most  intelligent,  as  well 
as  the  most  hardened  and  atrocious,  to  mental  feebleness 
that  is  scarcely  capable  of  forming  a  criminal  intention ; 
and  the  inmates  of  the  penal  institutions  of  the  state  are 
drawn  from  every  station  of  life,  and  the  conditions  that 
surrounded  them  before  conviction  attended  them  there, 
and  greatly  influence  the  possibilities  of  pardon. 

"It  is  a  fact  that  will  be  abundantly  shown  by  an  ex- 
amination of  the  files  of  the  executive  office,  that  to  ap- 
plications made  to  the  governor  for  the  commutations  of 
the  sentence  or  the  pardon  of  the  most  notorious  crimi- 
nals that  have  ever  been  convicted  of  crimes,  will  be 
found  the  names  of  judges,  senators,  representatives  and 


310  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

other  eminent  persons  residing  in  this  and  other  states. 
And  applications  of  this  class  are  pressed  upon  the 
governor,  notwithstanding  the  person  whose  pardon  is 
almost  demanded  by  an  array  of  powerful  names,  was 
defended  on  the  trial  that  resulted  in  his  conviction  by 
the  ablest  counsel,  and  every  means  necessary  to  the 
the  proper  vindication  of  his  alleged  innocence  was 
within  easy  reach.  Persons  of  this  class  will  be  able 
without  difficulty,  to  comply  with  any  mere  formal 
method  of  applying  for  pardon  that  may  be  prescribed 
by  the  general  assembly.  But  many  of  the  inmates  of 
the  penitentiary  are  obscure  and  poor,  and  ignorant  and 
helpless,  and  their  crimes  have  sprung  from  impulse, 
provocation,  temptation,  poverty,  ignorance  or  inexperi- 
ence ;  and  in  others  the  feeble  and  irresolute  have  been 
deliberately  seduced  to  crime  by  artful  and  hardened  of- 
fenders, who,  when  they  themselves  have  been  pursued, 
have  surrendered  their  tools  and  victims  as  a  means  of 
providing  their  own  escape.  It  is  often  the  interest  of 
parties  who  have  for  their  own  purposes  secured  the  con- 
viction of  the  persons  of  the  character  described  to  em- 
barass  every  means  the  governor  may  employ  to  ascer- 
tain the  facts  of  the  case,  and  in  many  other  cases,  any- 
thing that  tends  to  obstruct  the  way  to  the  attention  of 
the  governor,  is  a  real  and  often  unsurmountable  diffi- 
culty. It  must  be  remembered  that  the  offenses  of  many 
persons  confined  in  the  penitentiary  are  intimately  re- 
lated to  poverty,  destitution  and  ignorance,  and  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  provision  made  by  our  laws  for 
securing  a  fair  and  intelligent  trial  for  the  helpless,  fee- 
ble poor,  does  no  great  credit  to  our  judicial  methods. 
Many  of  the  class  of  convicts  under  consideration  are 
without  property  and  friends  in  this  state,  and  others,  al- 
most totally  ignorant  of  the  language  in  which  the  trial 
was  conducted.  To  require  of  such  persons  the  observ- 
ance of  the  form  prescribed  by  the  act,  before  the  gov- 
ernor is  allowed  to  consider  the  question  of  a  pardon, 
would  be  to  cut  them  off  from  all  hope. 


INAUGURATED  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  311 

".  .  .  .  the  final,  though  essential  act  is  that  the 
state's  attorney  of  the  city  or  county  where  the  offense  is 
committed  shall  find  the  persons  interested  to  oppose  the 
application  for  pardon,  and  give  them  the  notice  pre- 
scribed by  the  bill.  The  theory  of  the  bill  is,  that  in 
every  case  of  conviction  and  sentence  for  crime,  there  may 
be  some  persons  interested  in  the  prosecution  of  the  of- 
fenders, but  the  fact  is,  that  many  convictions  are  had 
for  offenses  that  affect  no  particular  person,  or  so  affect 
whole  communities  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  the 
state's  attorneys  to  elect  the  persons  who  more  than 
others  could  be  said  to  be  interested  in  the  prosecution. 
In  other  cases,  the  offenses  are  against  the  property  of 
corporations  such  as  railroad  companies,  banking  and 
insurance  companies,  and  the  bills  fail  to  indicate  who, 
under  such  circumstances,  the  state's  attorney  shall 
notify  as  'persons  interested  in  the  prosecution  of  said 
parties  convicted.'  ...  It  seems  to  me  there  are 
cases  where  public  justice  demands  that  the  governor 
upon  his  own  motion  shall  investigate  and  pardon  of- 
fenders ;  and  perhaps  after  all  that  has  been  said  upon 
the  subject,  the  only  security  that  can  be  found  against 
abuses  of  the  pardoning  power  is  publicity,  and  the 
watchful  criticism  of  the  press  and  people." 


312  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Mercantile  Protective  Company — Constitutional  convention,  1870 — De- 
tectives— Mobs — Bribes — Fees — Railroads — Eminent  domain — Par- 
dons— Talk  to  colored  people  of  the  seventh  anniversary  of  eman- 
cipation— Address  on  the  re-interment  of  Governor  Bissell. 

The  other  bill,  which  was  entitled  "An  act  to  fund 
and  provide  for  paying  the  railroad  debts,  etc.,"  was  in- 
tended to  invite  all  the  municipal  organizations  of  the 
state  to  contract  debts  for  the  construction  of  railroads. 
It  was  declared  to  be  unconstitutional  by  the  supreme 
court,  and  its  contents  are  therefore  immaterial.  It 
was  passed,  notwithstanding  my  veto,  as  was  the  "lake 
front"  bill. 

There  is  still,  however,  another  measure  which  I  was 
compelled  to  veto,  entitled,  "An  act  to  incorporate  the 
'Mercantile  Protective  Company  of  Chicago.' '  I  quote 
from  my  message :  "I  do  not  approve  and  sign  this 
bill,  because,  in  my  opinion,  the  corporation  proposed 
to  be  created  to  insure  the  safety  of  property  against  the 
depredations  of  'thieves,  robbers  and  burglars,'  with 
the  power  to  organize  and  uniform  a  force  of  watchmen, 
that  'all  state,  county  and  city  officers  shall  be  bound 
to  respect,'  ought  not  to  be  created.  It  is  a  reproach 
to  the  institutions  of  the  country  that  the  laws  do  not 
afford  protection  to  the  property  of  all  the  citizens,  and 
if  the  laws  are  so  imperfect  or  so  inefficiently  adminis- 
tered that  the  man  who  pays  taxes  to  carry  on  his  gov- 
ernment and  pay  its  officers,  is  then  compelled  to  resort  to 
private  corporations  and  their  bands  of  organized  watch- 
men for  the  safety  of  his  property,  'we  have  fallen  upon 
evil  times.'  This  bill  is  contrary  to  public  policy,  for  the 
reason  that  it  affords  another  means  for  citizens  to 
escape  the  discharge  of  the  plainest  and  most  imperative 
duties . 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  313 

"The  laws  are  sufficient  for  the  protection  of  prop- 
erty, but  the  prevailing  evil  of  the  times  is,  that  orderly, 
law-abiding  citizens  refuse  to  select  good,  honest  and 
efficient  officers  ;  they  refuse  to  attend  municipal  or  other 
elections  for  the  choice  of  officers  upon  whose  integrity 
and  vigilance  they  must  depend  for  safety  against 
thieves,  robbers  and  burglars,  and  permit  the  laws  en- 
acted for  their  protection  to  remain  unexecuted,  and  de- 
pend upon  private  organizations  for  security. 

"Every  man  will  find  safety  in  the  laws  (if  they  are 
enforced)  and  ought  to  depend  upon  them.  They  will 
be  enforced  if  every  citizen  will  do  his  duty. 
Believing  that  the  principle  of  this  bill  is  erroneous, 
that  no  encouragement  should  be  offered  to  citizens  of 
the  state  to  neglect  their  duties,  and  that  all  private 
police  organizations  are  corrupting  in  their  tendencies 
and  dangerous  to  every  interest,  I  cannot  approve  this 
measure." 

I  particularly  opposed  monopolies,  and  vetoed  a  bill 
creating  the  "Massac  Manufacturing  Company."  I 
said  in  my  message :  "House  Bill  No.  1414,  being  a 
bill  for  an  act  to  incorporate  the  Massac  Manufacturing 
Company,  is  herewith  returned  with  my  objections  to 
the  same.  This  bill  contravenes  in  many  of  its  pro- 
visions principles  that  I  have  been  taught  to  believe  to 
be  of  the  greatest  importance  and  value,  and  I  will  con- 
tent myself  with  enumerating  them  briefly,  and  referring 
to  so  much  and  to  such  provisions  of  the  bill  as  will  il- 
lustrate my  meaning : 

"1.  In  every  just  and  wise  system  of  government, 
perpetuities  are  abhorred.  It  is  now  too  late  to  eradicate 
them,  for  our  volumes  of  statutes  abound  in  acts  of  in- 
corporations that  confer  large  powers  that  are  of  un- 
limited duration  ;  but  I  have  found  none  that  go  quite  as 
far  as  this  in  respects  hereafter  to  be  alluded  to.  This 
corporation  is  conceded  'perpetual  existence  and  succes- 
sion,' and  is  upon  that  ground  objectionable  to  me. 

"2.   But  it  creates  and  confers  upon  the  corporation 


314  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

such  power  as  no  government  ought  to  confer  upon  any 
body  of  men,  and  these  powers,  like  the  corporation 
itself,  are  to  exist  perpetually. 

"I  ask  attention  to  an  extract  from  the  bill:  'The 
capital  stock  of  said  corporation  shall  be  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  The  capital  stock  of  said  company 
may  be  increased  to  any  amount  not  exceeding  one  mil- 
lion dollars.'  The  object  and  business  of  said  corpora- 
tion shall  be  the  manufacturing  of  iron  and  all  other  met- 
als and  combinations  of  metals  now  discovered  or  used, 
or  which  may  hereafter  be  discovered  ;  and  in  order  to 
transact  the  said  business,  the  said  corporation  shall 
have  power  to  make  iron  rails  for  railroads  and  to  re- 
roll  iron  rails  ;  to  mine  for  coal  and  iron,  and  other  ore, 
to  manufacture  iron  castings  of  every  size  and  descrip- 
tion, and  to  carry  on  the  foundry  business  in  all  its  va- 
rious branches ;  to  manufacture  plows,  wagons  and  all 
other  agricultural  implements ;  to  establish  and  main- 
tain spoke,  hub  and  felloe  factories,  and  any  other  thing 
or  machinery  for  working  in  wood  and  that  the  said 
corporation  may  determine  to  invest  in ;  to  erect  mills 
and  machine-shops,  and  all  other  buildings  that  may  be 
necessary  to  carry  on  their  business ;  to  manufacture 
all  kinds  of  machinery  of  every  description,  of  what- 
ever nature  ;  and  also  to  purchase  any  patent  inventions 
of  any  kind,  and  to  manufacture  and  sell  the  article, 
machine  or  other  thing  so  patented  (and  the  patent 
therefor  purchased  by  the  company) ,  and  to  hold,  sell 
and  convey  any  patent  or  patents  of  inventions  pur- 
chased by  said  corporation  in  exchange  for  any  prop- 
erty, real  or  personal,  which  property  thus  obtained  may 
be  held  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  said  corporation,  or 
may  be  sold  and  conveyed  as  its  by-laws  may  direct ; 
and  said  company  is  authorized  to  own,  occupy  and  oper- 
ate one  or  more  saw  and  planing-mills,  for  the  sawing, 
dressing  and  cutting  timber  into  boards  for  building 
purposes  ;  and  may  manufacture  doors,  sash,  blinds, 
brackets,  mouldings,  frames  or  any  other  article  manu- 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  315 

factured  from  lumber ;  and  may  make  shingles,  and 
may  use  and  employ  any  kind  of  machinery  in  and  about 
their  business,  propelled  by  steam  ;  and  they  are  fur- 
ther authorized  to  purchase  or  hold  land,  or  other  es- 
state,  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  therefrom  timber  and 
saw-logs,  and  sell  said  land  and  real  estate  ;  and  they  are 
further  authorized  to  establish  one  or  more  agencies  for 
the  sale  of  products  of  their  mills  or  manufactories." 

It  is  thus  seen,  by  the  terms  of  this  bill,  this  incorpo- 
ration is  authorized  to  engage  in  almost  every  species 
of  mechanical  and  manufacturing  business ;  may  com- 
pete with  everyone,  and,  if  it  means  anything,  may 
overthrow  all  the  industry  of  its  neighborhood,  for 
while  the  humble  mechanic  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  plows  or  other  of  the  simplest  agricultural  imple- 
ments must  risk  everything,  the  owners  of  the  vast 
franchises  created  venture  nothing  but  the  capital  stock 
invested,  and  if  they  successfully  practice  the  devices 
sometimes  employed  that  will  be  rather  nominal  than 
real. 

I  said  in  regard  to  the  "House  Bill  213,"  a  bill  for 
an  act  to  incorporate  the  Logan  County  Agricultural  and 
Driving  Park  Association,  and  "House  Bill  945,"  a  bill 
for  an  act  to  incorporate  the  Massac  County  Agricultural 
and  Fair  Association:  "I  decline  to  sign  these  bills  for 
reasons  that  are  common  to  both.  .  .  .  3.  The 
power  to  appoint  police  officers  that  are  when  appointed 
to  have  authority,  without  warrant  or  judicial  order,  to 
arrest  citizens  for  acts  done  on  their  grounds,  or  within 
certain  distances  around  them,  in  violation  of  their  by- 
laws or  the  laws  of  the  state,  or  to  adopt  by-laws — and 
in  the  case  of  one  of  them — resolutions  imposing  penal- 
ties that  they  are  authorized  to  recover  and  appropriate 
to  their  own  use.  If  these  corporations  were  as  nearly 
public  as  their  names  import,  I  would  most  earnestly 
insist  that  they  should  not  be  intrusted  to  pass  laws  un- 
der the  name  of  by-laws — to  the  extent  proposed  by 
these  bills — and  that  they  should  not  have  the  power  of 


316  THE  STOEY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

appointing  police  officers  with  authority  to  arrest  citi- 
zens without  warrant.  .  .  .  Public  and  private 
rights  are  still  too  precious  to  be  placed  under  the  con- 
trol of  private  persons." 

My  purpose  in  quoting  from  my  messages,  disapprov- 
ing these  bills,  is  to  show  the  recklessness  of  the  legis- 
lature of  1869,  and  of  the  extreme  care  I  was  compelled 
to  exercise. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Constitutional  Convention  of 
1870  enlarged  the  powers  of  the  governor,  so  as  to 
make  his  veto  of  the  bill  equivalent  to  two-thirds  of 
both  branches  of  the  general  assembly. 

On  January  4,  1871,  the  legislature  of  the  state  again 
assembled,  and  it  was  my  duty,  under  the  constitution, 
to  transmit  to  that  body  a  message  in  writing.  I  did 
so.  In  that  message  I  congratulated  the  general  assem- 
bly upon  the  prosperity  of  the  state,  and  that  the 
laws  for  the  preservation  of  peace  and  order  have  been 
in  almost  every  instance  faithfully  executed. 

I  said:  "Amongst  the  exceptions  to  the  general  en- 
forcement of  the  laws  of  the  state  are  several  instances 
of  outrages  committed  by  mobs.  On  February  21,  1870, 
one  Harrison  Reed,  who  was  charged  with  murder  com- 
mitted in  Madison  county,  was  taken  from  the  custody 
of  an  officer,  who  was  conveying  him  to  jail,  and 
killed. 

"On  April  20,  1870,  one  Hank  Leonard  was  forcibly 
taken  from  the  jail  of  Marion  county,  and  put  to  death 
under  circumstances  of  peculiar  atrocity.  On  April  16, 
1870,  one  Joseph  C.  Ramsey,  while  in  the  custody  of  an 
officer  of  Putnam  county,  who  was  conveying  him  to  the 
county  jail,  was  seized  by  a  mob  and  hanged. 

"These  cases  were  officially  reported  to  me,  and  other 
instances  of  lawless  violence  have  occurred  in  the  state, 
in  regard  to  which  I  have  no  official  information.  .  .  . 
The  case  of  Reed  is  especially  humiliating.  He  had  es- 
caped from  the  state,  and  was  arrested  under  the  order  of 
the  governor  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  in  consequence  of  a 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  317 

requisition  made  by  me,  and  was  murdered  while  in  the 
custody  of  an  officer  of  this  state,  who  could  not,  or  would 
not,  protect  him. 

"When  the  facts  were  fully  investigated  by  me,  I  of- 
fered a  reward  of  one  thousand  dollars  for  the  apprehen- 
sion and  conviction  of  the  offenders  in  each  of  these 
cases,  but  no  arrests  have  been  reported  to  me. 

".  .  .  In  the  cases  mentioned,  my  powers  are  ex- 
hausted,  and  the  violators  of  the  law  are  unpunished." 

I  spoke  of  the  new  constitution,  and  said :  "On  July 
2,  1870,  the  people  of  the  state  expressed  their  approval 
of  the  constitution  adopted  by  the  convention  assembled 
in  this  city,  on  December  13,  1869.  This  instrument, 
that  was  prepared  with  so  much  care  by  the  intelligent, 
patriotic  men  who  composed  the  convention,  and  that 
was  adopted  by  the  freemen  of  the  state  with  a  singular 
degree  of  unanimity,  introduces  many  most  salutary  re- 
forms in  the  organic  law.  The  constitution  of  1848  was 
well  suited  to  the  times,  and  was  adopted  by  the  people, 
under  circumstances  of  difficulty  and  embarrassment 
that  we  cannot  now  fully  understand. 

"At  that  time,  the  state  was  overwhelmed  by  a  debt, 
improvidently  contracted,  and  that  had  wholly  failed  of 
benefit  to  the  people  ;  property  had  but  a  nominal  value  ; 
the  resources  of  the  state  were  undeveloped,  and  but 
little  understood,  and  immigration  had  almost  ceased. 

"The  constitution  was  the  expression  of  the  determi- 
nation of  the  people  to  meet  every  obligation,  and  to 
practice  the  most  rigid  economy  until  the  claims  of  the 
public  creditors  were  placed  in  a  condition  that  would 
satisfy  them.  The  purpose  intended  was  accomplished, 
and  the  constitution  of  1868  will  be  remembered  as  an 
example  of  courageous  integrity  to  the  enduring  honor 
of  the  State  of  Illinois.  .  .  .  The  public  judgment 
is,  that  the  constitution  now  in  force  is  admirably  framed 
to  correct  abuses  that  had  grown  up  under  the  former 
system  of  government,  and  that,  if  its  provisions  are 
respected,  it  will  secure  to  the  state  an  efficient,  econom- 


318  THE  STOKY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

ical  administration  of  its  affairs,  and  fully  protect  every 
public  and  private  right.  But,  as  well  founded  as  these 
expectations  are,  it  will  ever  remain  true,  that  a  self- 
executing  constitution  has  not  been  devised  by  human 
skill,  and,  if  such  an  instrument  could  be  created,  it 
would  be  without  value,  for  it  is  of  the  essence  of  a  free 
government  that  it  exists,  and  is  preserved  by  the  in- 
telligent assent  and  the  active,  vigilant,  organized  will  of 
a  free  people."  .  .  . 

"The  forms  of  popular  government  may  escape  sub- 
version, but  it  will  practically  perish  when  the  people 
are  unable  to  confide  in  the  integrity  and  wisdom  of 
those  whom  they  are  compelled  to  entrust  the  execution 
of  its  powers,  and,  hence,  the  officer  who  justly  forfeits 
the  confidence  of  the  people  is  as  dangerous  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  state  as  if  he  had  treacherously  assailed  its 
existence.  .  .  .  Indeed,  all  the  laws  of  the  state,  in 
respect  to  elections,  demand  careful  examination,  with 
a  view  of  such  improvements  as  will  render  them  a  more 
complete  protectioa  to  the  purity  of  elections.  .  .  . 
I  am  free  to  confess  that  no  complete  reform,  with  re- 
spect to  this  subject,  can  be  expected,  until  public  senti- 
ment shall  concur  with  legal  enactments,  and  make 
those  who  offer  and  those  who  receive  bribes  alike  in- 
famous, .  .  .  and  provide  that  the  use  of  corrupt 
means  to  secure  an  election,  whenever  discovered,  shall 
work  a  forfeiture  of  the  office,  and  also  incapacitate  both 
parties  from  voting  or  holding  office  thereafter  in  this 
state.  I  alluded  to  the  apportionment  for  members  of 
the  legislature  as  provided  in  the  thirteenth  section  of 
the  schedule  of  the  constitution.  I  said,  in  regard  to 
the  compensation  of  public  officers  that,  'I  think  it  is 
proper  to  say  that  in  my  judgment  every  public  of- 
ficer should  be  paid  a  fixed  salary,  and  that  the  whole 
system  of  compensation  by  fees,  to  be  collected  from 
parties,  or  counties,  or  from  the  state,  ought  to  be  at 
once  abolished.  ...  In  addition  to  penalties  to  be 
imposed  upon  officers  guilty  of  violations  of  such  laws, 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  319 

I  repeat  the  recommendation,  that  hereafter  no  fees  or 
costs  be  taxed  or  allowed  for  the  services  of  any  public 
officer,  but  that  whatever  sum  or  sums  it  may  be  thought 
judicious  to  require  to  be  paid  by  persons  for  the  ser- 
vices of  public  officers,  shall  be  deemed  a  tax,  and  be 
paid  under  suitable  regulations  into  the  proper  treasury  ; 
the  fees  of  clerks  and  sheriffs  heretofore  charged  against 
litigants  can,  by  a  proper  classification,  be  commuted  to 
a  fixed  sum,  and  paid  into  the  county  treasury,  upon 
certificate  of  the  clerk.  A  form  of  special  tax,  to  be 
levied  upon  administrations  and  other  matters  within 
jurisdiction  of  the  county  court  may  be  devised,  while 
the  tax  imposed  upon  suits  in  the  supreme  court,  may 
be  paid  into  the  state  treasury.'  ' 

I  referred  in  my  message  to  the  expenses  of  the  gen- 
eral assembly,  and  said:  "Unless  great  attention  is 
given  to  the  matter  of  the  expenses  of  the  legislature, 
the  members  will  at  the  close  of  the  session  be  surprised 
at  the  aggregate  amount.  The  amended  constitution 
provides  that  'no  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the 
treasury  except  in  pursuance  of  an  appropriation  made 
by  law,  and  that  no  money  shall  be  diverted  from  an  ap- 
propriation made  for  any  purpose,  or  taken  from  any 
fund  whatever,  either  by  joint  or  separate  resolution.' 
It  will  therefore  be  necessary  for  the  general  assembly  to 
provide  by  law,  for  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  ses- 
sion. .  .  ." 

With  respect  to  special  legislation,  I  said:  "The  ag- 
gregate number  of  bills  introduced  in  both  branches  of 
the  general  assembly  was  two  thousand,  two  hundred 
and  seventy-eight.  Of  these  upwards  of  fifteen  hundred 
became  laws  ;  and  those  that  are  special  and  local  alone, 
are  bound  into  three  ponderous  volumes  that  contain 
two  thousand,  eight  hundred  and  forty-three  printed 
pages.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  such  mass  of  crude  and 
dangerous  legislation  was  ever  inflicted  upon  any  people . ' ' 

In  regard  to  municipal  legislation,  I  said,  speaking  of 
the  statute  then  in  force  :  "Many  of  its  provisions  are 


320  THE  STORY   OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

vague,  and  others  unconstitutional,  and  the  whole  law 
is  in  my  judgment  wanting  in  that  symmetry  and  com- 
pleteness which  is  essential  to  the  usefulness  of  a  statute 
that  is  to  be  the  constitution  of  every  municipal  body  in 
the  state." 

With  reference  to  railroad  corporations,  it  was  said  in 
the  message  :  "Every  railway  corporation  organized  or 
doing  business  in  this  state,  under  the  laws  or  authority 
thereof,  must  maintain  an  office  in  this  state  for  the 
transaction  of  its  business.  .  .  .  The  usefulness  of 
railways  and  the  extent  of  their  beneficial  influence  upon 
the  well  being  and  prosperity  of  the  country,  are  not  de- 
nied. .  .  .  But  the  duty  and  the  power  of  the  state 
to  interfere  for  the  effectual  control  of  railway  corpora- 
tions is  disputed.  Those  who  deny  the  necessity  for 
state  interference  insist  that  all  the  evils  of  excessive 
tariffs  and  unjust  discrimination  for  rates  for  transpor- 
tation, will  be  ultimately  corrected  by  the  competitions 
of  different  lines  of  railways,  in  their  efforts  to  control 
the  business.  Competition  is  far  more  expensive  than 
direct  methods  of  legal  control.  The  grossest  oppressions 
that  burden  the  people  grow  out  of  the  fierce  and  ex- 
hausting railway  competition  at  important  points  where 
their  interests  come  in  conflict ;  and  one  of  the  strongest 
reasons  for  the  interference  of  the  legislature  to  control 
the  management  of  railway  lines  is,  that  the  burdens  of 
the  useless  competition  of  different  lines  is  thrown  upon 
intermediate  points  where  competition  is  impossible. 
Deprive  railroad  corporations  of  the  power  to  impose  dis- 
cretionary rates  upon  their  traffic,  and  the  business  com- 
munity would  suffer  far  less  from  the  selfish  contests  of 
competing  lines,  that  in  their  effect  unsettle  values,  to 
the  confusion  of  business  and  the  disappointment  of  the 
most  prudent  commercial  calculations. 

"  ...  But  the  difficulties  that  occur  to  my 
mind,  do  not  relate  to  the  power  of  the  state  to  enact 
and  enforce  proper  laws,  but  they  grow  out  of  the  com- 
plex nature  of  the  subject.  There  are  conflicting  inter- 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  321 

ests  to  be  reconciled  and  adjusted,  and  nothing  within 
the  sphere  of  governmental  action  requires  more  deli- 
cacy of  management  than  what  is  termed  railway  prob- 
lems. .  .  .  My  apology  for  the  extended  discussion 
of  this  question  is,  that  the  people  of  the  state  in  the 
adoption  of  the  amended  constitution  have  imposed  upon 
the  general  assembly  duties  of  the  -highest  importance, 
and  doubts  as  to  the  power  of  the  state  to  control  rail- 
ways have  had  and  will  have  effect  to  produce  timidity, 
hesitation  and  feebleness  in  its  councils. 

"To  maintain  the  usefulness  of  the  state  governments, 
it  must  be  established  that  their  powers  are  in  no  sense 
subordinate  or  dependent,  but  that,  under  our  political 
system,  the  grasp  of  the  states  upon  their  own  proper 
functions  is  as  firm  and  uncontrollable  as  that  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States ;  that  each  are  essential 
parts  of  our  admirable  political  system,  and  their  orbits 
in  that  system  being  defined,  they  are  each  supreme 
and  alike  indestructible." 

With  references  to  warehouses,  I  said,  "that  ware- 
housemen are  like  carriers,  engaged  in  the  public  em- 
ployment, .  .  .  and  the  magnitude  of  the  task  will 
be.  assumed  by  the  state  in  attempting  to  subject  rail- 
ways and  warehouses,  and  the  individuals  and  corpora- 
tions that  own,  operate  and  manage  them,  to  that  degree 
of  legal  regulation  and  control  that  is  demanded  by  the 
public  interests,  rendering  it  necessary  to  create  a  board  of 
commissioners,  to  whom  the  duty  of  enforcing  such  laws 
as  may  be  enacted  for  that  purpose  may  be  confided,  and 
the  commissioners  should  be  clothed  with  all  the  need- 
ful power,  when  the  occasion  demands,  to  compel  sub- 
mission to  the  authority  of  the  state." 

"I  referred  to  the  subject  of  'eminent  domain,'  which 
involves  the  right  of  the  state  to  take  private  property 
for  pubic  uses.  .  .  .  After  ad  verting  to  the  judiciary 
and  criminal  justice,  of  which  I  said,  'the  employment 
of  detectives,  in  aid  of  the  enforcement  of  the  laws,  is 
21 


322  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

painfully  suggestive  of  a  rapid  approach  to  social  and 
political  helplessness,  where  the  people,  without  confi- 
dence in  the  laws  of  the  land  or  in  the  agents  appointed 
to  execute  and  enforce  them,  surround  themselves  with 
spies  and  eagerly  await  the  coming  of  a  master,  who,  by 
his  own  vigor,  will  give  protection  to  their  persons  and 
property.' 

"The  recognized  existence  of  a  class  of  persons,  self- 
appointed,  who  take  no  oaths  and  give  no  bonds  to  se- 
cure their  fidelity  to  the  laws,  or  to  indemnify  parties 
they  may  injure,  whose  authority  to  pursue,  watch  and 
arrest  seems  undefined,  and  whose  jurisdiction  is  with- 
out boundary,  is  an  anomaly  in  a  land  of  law.  If 
necessary,  they  should  be  licensed  or  commissioned  and 
subjected  to  control ;  if  useless  and  mischievous,  as  I 
think  they  are,  they  should  be  repressed." 

I  spoke  of  the  subject  of  pardons,  as  intimately  re- 
lated to  the  administration  of  criminal  justice,  and  said  : 
"Criminals  of  one  class  are  able  to  employ  the  influence 
of  persons  of  the  highest  stations,  while  those  of  another 
will  rely  upon  the  powerful  intercession  of  a  wife  or 
mother,  or  the  almost  irresistible  agency  of  homeless, 
ill-clad  children,  whose  wretched  condition  is  an  appeal 
that  can  hardly  be  resisted,  except  in  cases  of  the  worst 
of  men. 

"In  cases  like  these,  compassion  will  sometimes  con- 
fuse or  overcome  the  judgment,  and  others  present  them- 
selves where  justice  and  public  policy  alike  dictate  par- 
dons." .  .  .  I  gave  a  list  of  the  names  of  the  persons 
pardoned  by  me,  and  stated  that  the  number  of  pardons 
granted  from  January  11,  1869,  to  January  11,  1870,  is  :. 

"From  penitentiary,    ....  108 

From  Bridewell  (Chicago)  ,   .  1 

From  reform  school,           .         .         .  2 

From  county  jails,          *         . '       .  7 

Total,      .      '_.         .  .118 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  323 

"Number  of  pardons  from  January  1,  1870,  to  Janu- 
ary 1,  1871 : 

"From  penitentiary,    ....       60 
From  Bridewell  (Chicago) ,   .         .  1 

From  county  jails,     .         .         .         .         5 

Total,  .         .         .  '      . ;.          66 

"It  is  due  to  candor  that  I  should  say  that  in  some  in- 
stances, I  have  granted  pardons  on  account  of  a  con- 
viction that  the  provision  made  by  law  for  the  defense 
of  the  poor  and  friendless,  charged  with  the  commission 
of  crimes,  is  not  equal  to  the  civilization  of  which  we 
boast." 

In  my  notice  of  the  state  finances,  I  said  :  "The  report 
of  the  auditor  shows  that  the  whole  state  debt,  outstand- 
ing, on  November  30, 1879,  was  $4,890,937.30,  and  there 
is  in  the  state  treasury,  applicable  to  the  payment  of  the 
public  debt,  $3,082,104.22  ;  the  balance  of  the  state  debt, 
over  and  above  the  sum  named,  is  therefore  $1,808,833.08  ; 
this  comparatively  small  balance  will  be  provided  for 
without  any  additional  taxation.  ...  I  commend 
the  suggestion  of  the  treasurer,  as  to  the  payment  ofi 
the  state  debt  in  coin,  to  your  favorable  consideration. 

" .  .  .  The  report  of  the  auditor  suggests  that  diffi- 
culties have  arisen  in  the  practical  execution  of  'An  act 
to  fund  and  provide  for  paying  the  railroad  debts  of  coun- 
ties, townships,  cities  and  towns.'  .  .  .  The  whole 
law,  its  principles  and  details,  are,  in  my  judgment,  vio- 
lative  of  the  just  theories  of  taxation  and  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  state,  and  has  been,  in  practice,  a  'delusion 
and  a  snare'  to  the  people.  The  proper  course  to  be 
pursued  is  to  repeal  the  law  at  once. 

"It  has  been  settled  that  one  of  the  most   difficult 
achievements  is  a  satisfactory  revenue  system. 
It  is  provided  for  in  the  eleventh  article  of  the  constitu- 
tion, that  every  person  and  corporation  shall  pay  a  tax 


324  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

in  proportion  to  his,  her  or  its  property,  which  is,  in 
substance,  but  the  just  rule  of  equality  of  taxation. 

"The  third  section  permits  the  exemption  of  property 
used  for  certain  purposes  from  taxation,  but  the  exemp- 
tion must  be  made  by  general  law.  .  .  .  The  ex- 
emption of  property  from  taxation  is  against  common 
right  and  of  doubtful  policy.  ...  To  enumerate  all 
the  laws  made  void  by  the  provisions  of  the  constitution, 
is  unnecessary,  but  it  is  proper  to  observe  that  they  de- 
feat all  laws  exempting  the  property  of  any  district  from 
taxation,  all  laws  appropriating  the  taxes  of  districts  to 
uses  of  persons  or  corporations,  all  laws  that  impose  taxes 
upon  the  inhabitants  of  municipal  corporations  for  cor- 
porate purposes,  and,  also,  all  laws  that  authorize  or  re- 
quire persons  appointed  by  the  general  assembly  to  levy 
or  impose  taxes  for  municipal  purposes." 

With  respect  to  public  education,  I  paid  a  just  com- 
pliment to  the  teachers  of  the  public  schools,  and  further 
remarked  :  "The  duty  of  the  general  assembly  is  denned 
in  the  clear  and  precise  language  of  the  first  section  of 
the  eighth  article  of  the  constitution  to  be,  to  'provide 
a  thorough  and  efficient  system  of  free  schools,  whereby 
all  the  children  of  this  state  may  receive  a  good,  common 
school  education.'  The  duty  is  imperative,  and  extends 
to  all  the  children  of  the  state,  without  distinction  of 
race  or  color.  .  .  .  Happily  for  the  future  peace  and 
welfare  of  the  country,  odious  discriminations  on  account 
of  color  have  been  blotted  out  of  our  political  system,  and 
the  anti-republican  prejudices  that  have  heretofore  been 
sufficient  to  defeat  the  demands  of  a  portion  of  the  peo- 
ple for  equality  of  political  and  legal  rights,  have  passed 
away  with  the  system  of  slavery,  and  none  now  deny  the 
duty  of  the  state  to  provide  for  the  education  of  all." 

On  the  seventh  anniversary  of  the  preliminary  eman- 
cipation proclamation,  I  addressed  the  colored  people  of 
the  city  of  Springfield,  at  a  celebration,  as  follows  : 

"My  country-men  and  country-women — I  came  here 
to-day  without  any  expectation  of  speaking  to  you.  I 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  325 

saw,  in  reading  the  morning  paper,  that  Mr.  Herndon 
and  Mr.  Cullom  were  to  make  speeches  to  you,  and  I 
came  to  hear  them,  and  to  determine  something  of  your 
numbers,  and  to  note  the  progress  you  have  made  in  the 
direction  of  improvement,  in  intelligence  and  in  the  ac- 
quisition of  the  qualities  that  constitute  good  fathers, 
good  mothers  and  good  citizens ;  and  I  feel  warranted, 
by  your  appearance  and  conduct  to-day,  in  saying  that 
your  progress  has  been  such  as  more  than  satisfies  the 
hopes  and  predictions  of  your  most  sanguine  friends. 

"To  fully  realize  what  you  have  gained,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  only  seven  years  ago  to-day  was  inaugu- 
rated the  plan  of  your  emancipation. 

"When,  on  September  22,  1862,  Mr.  Lincoln  issued 
his  warning  proclamation,  threatening  emancipation,  he 
only  intended  by  that  menace  to  startle  that  portion  of 
our  people  who  were  in  rebellion  into  submission  to  the 
authority  of  the  government. 

"Many  thought  that  proclamation  unwise  and  dan- 
gerous, and  others  denounced  it  as  revolutionary  and 
even  wicked.  He  only  declared  that  he  would  declare  the 
freedom  of  your  race  in  certain  states  and  parts  of  states, 
if,  before  January  1,  1863,  the  people  in  the  districts  in- 
dicated did  not  lay  down  their  arms.  The  great  resolve 
of  the  president  of  that  day,  who  is  the  quiet  sleeper 
near  us  now,  as  much  as  it  meant  as  an  utterance  of  his 
fixed  determination,  only  prepared  the  way  for  coming 
events,  and  when,  on  the  ever-to-be-remembered  first 
day  of  January,  1863,  Mr.  Lincoln  ordered  the  free- 
dom of  more  than  two  millions  of  bondmen  and  bond- 
women, the  lines  of  the  Rebels  against  the  government 
were  so  advanced  that  the  actual  situation  of  the  great 
body  of  the  slaves  was  in  fact  unchanged.  It  required 
many  painful  marches,  many  bloody  battles,  that  cost 
many  thousands  of  precious  lives,  to  give  full  effect  to  the 
resolve  of  the  American  people  that  slavery  should  en- 
dure no  longer  ;  and  it  was  only  when  the  flag  of  the  re- 
bellion, which  was  also  that  of  slavery,  went  down  on 


326  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  north  bank  of  the  Appomattox,  that  the  principle 
was  firmly  established,  and  freedom  was  made  the  corner- 
stone of  the  restored  republic.  Nor,  indeed,  did  the 
overthrow  of  the  rebellion  entirely  destroy  slavery,  for 
Mr.  Lincoln's  proclamation  only  applied  in  terms  to 
what  were  called  the  insurrectionary  states,  and  to  Ken- 
tucky and  Delaware,  both  of  which  were  nominally  loyal 
to  the  Union,  still  asserted  the  right  to  hold  men  and 
women  in  bondage ;  and  I  had,  as  military  commander 
of  Kentucky,  the  rare  good  fortune,  as  late  as  July  4, 
1865,  acting  in  the  name  of  the  national  government,  to 
loose  the  last  shackle  of  the  last  slave,  and  to  drive  the 
last  nail  in  the  coffin  of  the  monster  that  had  lorded  it  over 
all  so  long,  and  had  filled  the  land  with  gloom  and  sad- 
ness and  mourning.  A  little  more  than  four  years  has 
passed  since  slavery  ceased,  and  your  race  was  born 
from  chattelhood  to  man  and  womanhood.  Nor  can  it 
be  said  that  until  long  after  the  proclamation  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  issued,  did  men  realize  the  fact  that  you 
were  free,  or  that  you  were  to  be  made  free  at  once  and 
without  preparation. 

"I  can  speak  for  myself,  and  candidly  confess  that 
though  I  had  hated  slavery  from  my  earliest  childhood, 
and  had  regarded  it  always  as  the  sum  of  all  villianies, 
as  dishonoring  God  and  degrading  to  man,  I  had  taught 
myself,  and  years  ago  when  I  argued  here  in  Springfield 
for  the  colonization  cause,  attempted  to  teach  others  that 
your  race  was  not  prepared  for  freedom.  I,  like  thous- 
ands of  others,  felt  and  spoke  of  a  period  of  preparation — 
of  probation,  by  which  you  were  to  be  made  free  slowly 
and  gradually;  that  you  were  to  pass  by  almost  in- 
sensible degrees  from  slavery  to  freedom — from  darkness 
through  dawn,  to  the  perfect  day  of  liberty.  "We  were 
as  earnest  and  yet  as  wise  as  the  good  mother  who  did 
not  intend  that  the  son  of  her  love  should  approach  the 
water  until  he  had  first  learned  to  swim  ! 

"We  did  not  then  know,  as  we  do  now,  that  slavery 
and  freedom  are  so  positive  ;  that  they  cannot  occupy  the 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  327 

same  ground ;  that  every  man  and  every  woman  must 
be  altogether  free,  or  all  a  slave,  and  that  the  only  way 
of  preparing  men  for  freedom  is  to  make  them  free.  Nor 
were  you  prepared  to  assert  your  claim  to  liberty  with 
confident  boldness.  Your  old  men  had  dreamed  dreams, 
and  your  young  men  had  seen  visions  of  the  coming  day, 
but  you  did  not  realize  that  it  had  come.  You  had  been 
for  centuries  in  the  grasp  of  a  system  as  blighting  as 
death — a  system  which  had  received  the  commendation 
of  statesmen  and  moralists,  and  had  the  approval  of  the 
God  of  some  systems  of  religion,  if  those  who  claimed  to 
teach  in  His  name  are  to  be  believed.  In  the  slave 
states  you  had  no  homes,  no  wives,  no  husbands,  no 
children  you  could  call  your  own,  and  the  faintest  trace 
of  African  lineage  was  the  badge  of  slavery,  disgrace  and 
humiliation ;  and  here  in  Illinois  you  were  more  than 
aliens,  for  they  might  become  citizens,  but  you  were 
gravely  defined  by  lawyers  to  be  only  perpetual  inhabit- 
ants and  strangers.  It  is  perhaps  true  all  had  felt  that 
eager  longing  for  liberty,  that  inextinguishable  desire 
for  freedom  that  God  has  implanted  ineradicably  in  the 
very  nature  of  all  things  that  He  has  endowed  with  life. 
But  with  most  of  your  race  this  desire  was  only  awakened 
to  be  quickly  repressed  by  the  conviction  that  the  white 
race  were  so  much  your  superiors,  so  unlike  yourselves, 
that  liberty  was  unattainable  ;  indeed,  false  religion,  and 
fraud,  and  falsehood  in  all  forms  were  so  combined  with 
power  that  you  were  held  inclined  to  doubt  whether  with 
a  good  conscience  you  could  desire  freedom,  and  you 
knew  that  if  you  attempted  to  grasp  it  every  hand  would 
be  against  you.  And  though  we  were  the  blind  instru- 
ments of  your  emancipation,  we  did  not  make  you  free. 
It  is  true,  and  must  be  confessed,  that  so  little  did  the 
great  body  of  the  anti-slavery  men  understand  the  signs 
of  the  times,  that  the  event  of  emancipation  burst  upon 
us  with  stunning  suddenness.  Many  of  us  had  fought 
battles,  and  faced  death  in  support  of  the  government, 
and  of  our  convictions,  but  when  the  great  consumma- 


328  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

tion  was  reached,  we  knew  that  the  Ruler  of  nations 
had  only  led  us  on,  and  thatr'as  He  in  the  beginning 
had  said,  'Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light,'  so 
His  voice  had  proclaimed,  let  there  be  liberty  through- 
out all  the  land,  and  the  shackles  fell  from  every  limb, 
and  the  great  fact  of  freedom  on  this  continent  was  estab- 
lished forever. 

"And  to  do  those  who  oppose  your  emancipation  jus- 
tice, they  were  only  a  little  more  blind  than  we  were. 
Some  of  them  loved  slavery,  it  is  true,  but  the  great 
body  of  them,  who  in  the  North  resisted  emancipation, 
only  dreaded  freedom.  But,  now  you  are  free,  we  re- 
joice, and  all  acquiesce,  and  with  freedom  to  you  comes 
new,  and  grave,  and  most  solemn  responsibilities. 

"While  you  were  slaves,  you  did  not  own,  and  did 
not  dare  to  claim  your  own  husbands,  your  own  wives, 
or  your  own  children.  But  now  all  these  are  yours. 
Before,  you  were  all  for  the  slave-market  and  the  auction- 
block.  Then,  if  the  slave-mother  clasped  her  child  to 
her  breast,  or  leaned  over  its  scanty  bed  in  sickness, 
and  agonized  and  prayed  that  it  might  live,  she  knew 
that  it  was  not  her  own,  but  that  the  master,  at  the  dic- 
tates of  necessity,  caprice  or  the  most  unholy  avarice, 
might  tear  it  from  her  arms  and  hide  it  from  her  sight 
forever.  No  law  forbade  it,  and  holy  men  vouched 
scripture  for  the  deed.  But  your  children  have  been  given 
to  you  a  second  time,  and  how  solemn  are  the  responsi- 
bilities this  double  gift  imposes  upon  you  !  And  as  you 
love  your  race,  your  children  and  yourselves,  you  dare 
not  disregard  them  ;  you  must  rear  your  children  well, 
and  to  do  this  you  must  gather  them  about  you,  and 
you  must  have  homes.  The  family  is  the  foundation  of 
society,  and  homes  are  essential  to  the  existence  of  an 
intelligent,  virtuous,  well  ordered  family.  I  repeat,  you 
must  have  homes,  where  you  can  shelter  those  you 
love,  and  where  you  may  teach  your  children  to  love 
the  father's  house — homes,  forever  humble,  but  your 
own  homes,  that  you  may  improve  and  adorn  them.  I 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  329 

know  that  when  you  were  led  out  of  captivity,  unlike 
the  chosen  people  of  the  Most  High,  you  were  not  per- 
mitted to  enrich  yourselves  with  the  spoils  of  your  mas- 
ters, but  you  came  forth  naked  and  destitute. 

"But  you  are  free,  and  inhabit  a  country  which  may 
not,  like  the  promised  land  of  the  Jews,  flow  with  the 
typical  'milk  and  honey,'  but  which  ought  to  satisfy  all 
the  desires  of  an  industrious,  frugal  people,  where  labor 
is  abundant  and  its  rewards  are  sure.  You  can  work. 
The  problem  which  puzzled  our  Southern  friends  so  long 
has  been  solved  :  'The  nigger  will  work.'  And  work  to 
do,  and  pay  for  it,  is  enough  for  any  of  us. 

"You  are  in  possession  now  of  all  any  useful  man  re- 
quires, the  right  to  labor,  and  to  enjoy  what  you  produce. 
Go  forth,  then,  and  get  homes,  for  a  homeless  race  can- 
not progress  in  civilization  or  refinement.  Educate  your 
children.  Instill  into  their  minds  virtuous  principles. 
The  facilities  for  education  are  all  around  you ;  schools 
are  provided.  Avail  yourselves  of  them,  and  in  a  few 
years  your  slavery  will  only  be  remembered  as  a  dream, 
and  will  be  mentioned  to  illustrate  the  extent  that  one 
race,  amid  the  blaze  of  Christianity,  civilization,  and  re- 
finement, can  practice  oppression  and  wrong,  and  the 
patience  with  which  another  can  endure  them.  Nor  can 
any  of  the  rights  that  belong  to.  other  citizens  be  much 
longer  withheld  from  you.  Intelligence  and  property 
will  command  respect.  The  story  told  of  one  of  your 
own  race  illustrates  this.  He  was  asked  :  'What  church 
do  you  belong  to?'  'None — I  quit  'em.  Year  before 
last,  I  belonged  to  the  church,  and  gave  them  ten  dol- 
lars, and  den  they  called  me  "Brudder"  Smith.  Last 
year  I  did  n't  make  so  much  money,  and  could  give  only 
five  dollars,  and  den  dey  called  me  "Mr."  Smith.  This 
year  my  wife  was  sick,  and  I  couldn't  give  any  thing, 
and  den  they  called  me  "dat  ole  nigger" — and  I 
quit  'em.'  Remember  that  in  proportion  to  your  suc- 
cess you  will  be  respected — and,  then,  you  must  vote. 
I  do  n't  know  if  suffrage  was  only  conferred  that  men 


330  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

might  take  part  in  prescribing  rules  for  the  government 
of  the  country,  but  that  it  would  be  best  that  only  the 
wisest,  if  we  knew  how  to  select  them,  should  enjoy  or 
exercise  the  right.  But  that  is  not  the  ground  upon 
which  I  insist  that  you  and  every  other  citizen  shall 
have  the  right  to  vote.  Suffrage  is  the  most  powerful 
and  most  valuable  weapon  of  defense.  Officers  rule  over 
you  now  that  you  did  not  select.  They  tax  your  labor 
and  defy  you.  What  difference  does  it  make  to  the  gov- 
ernor whether  he  protects  the  colored  citizens  or  not,  or 
to  the  member  of  congress,  or  of  the  state  legislature, 
who,  by  their  votes,  bind  your  person  to  duties  or  mort- 
gage your  property  for  the  payment  of  burdensome 
taxes,  or  to  the  police  officer  who  huddles  you  into  jail 
or  knocks  you  down  for  some  imaginary  offense  against 
his  own  dignities  ?  Whether  you  approve  their  conduct 
or  not,  you  cannot  vote.  But  concede  to  the  colored 
citizen  the  right  to  vote,  and  suddenly  all  is  changed. 
The  governor,  the  member  of  congress  and  of  the  legis- 
lature suddenly  discover  your  value.  They  become 
polite  to  your  person  and  thoughtful  of  your  interests, 
for  they  will  want  your  good  will  and  your  vote.  The 
police  officer  becomes  deferential — he  anxiously  inquires 
as  to  your  health  and  that  of  the  lady,  your  wife,  or 
after  the  prosperity  of  your  interesting  children.  And 
why  this  extraordinary  courtesy?  His  master,  the 
mayor,  wants  your  vote  ;  and  the  country  needs  and  must 
have  your  vote  for  yourself.  Hereafter  the  inquiry  will 
not  be,  what  is  the  color  of  the  voter,  but  what  are  his 
duties  ? 

"The  body  of  your  people  in  this  country  are  poor 
and  are  homeless  and  landless,  and  must  for  years  be 
laborers,  and  these  interests  will  unite  them  with  the 
white  men  whose  mission  is  toil.  Heretofore,  the  class 
of  white  men  called  laborers  have  exhibited  less  sym- 
pathy for  you  than  have  others ;  but  the  antagonism 
which  prejudice  has  occasioned  will  soon  disappear,  for 
they  must  at  no  distant  day  discover  that  they  and  you 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  331 

are  burdened  by  the  same  taxes  and  are  alike  oppressed 
by  misgovernment ;  that  you  and  they  are  the  victims 
of  the  grasping  demands  of  the  same  landlord  ;  that  you 
hunger  alike,  and  that  you  and  your  children  suffer  and 
die  from  the  same  diseases  that  bring  desolation  and  sor- 
row to  them. 

"From  the  necessities  of  the  case,  the  colored  men  of 
the  United  States  must  ally  themselves  with  the  workers 
of  the  country ;  nor  can  they,  unless  they  are  unwise, 
reject  the  powerful  support  your  numbers  will  furnish 
them.  You  will  naturally  unite  with  those  whose  in- 
terests are  likeyour's,  to  resist  every  encroachment  upon 
the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people,  whether  they  are 
threatened  by  organized  wealth,  which  seems  to  riot  in 
uncontrollable  license,  or  from  the  corruptions  of  those 
in  power.  You  maybe  ignorant,  but  it  rests  with  you  to 
determine  how  long  you  will  remain  so.  And  ignorance 
of  many  things  does  not  always  incapacitate  men  to  form 
intelligent  opinions  with  respect  to  others. 

"I  think  the  best  statement  of  the  office  and  value  of 
suffrage  I  have  ever  heard  was  given  to  me  by  a  man  of 
your  race,  who  had  spent  the  whole  of  his  life  upon  a 
rice  plantation  on  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  in  North 
Carolina.  After  examining  him  as  a  witness  before 
a  court  martial,  as  much  for  amusement  as  anything 
else,  I  said  to  him,  'Sam,  if  you  had  the  right  to  vote, 
how  would  you  vote?'  He  answered  me  by  saying,  'I 
would  vote  according  to  my  "intrust"  if  I  knowed  what 
that  was  ;'  and,  let  me  tell  you,  that  is  exactly  the  reason 
why  a  vote  is  valuable.  That  you  may  protect  the 
precious  interests  that  belong  to  you  as  husbands  and 
fathers  and  laborers  and  citizens,  you  will  vote  accord- 
ing to  your  interests  ;  and  it  will  be  to  your  interest  to 
restore  the  government  to  its  ancient  simplicity  and 
cheapness ;  to  relieve  the  labor  of  the  country  from  its 
burdens  ;  to  give  perfect  protection  to  persons  and  prop- 
erty ;  to  resist  extravagancies  and  the  qualities  that  have 
the  sanction  of  bad  laws. 


332  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"And  I  repeat,  you  will  vote,  and  will  soon  vote.  The 
fifteenth  amendment  will,  I  believe,  be  adopted — not  in 
time  to  secure  the  recognition  of  your  right  to  vote  at 
the  next  election,  but  you  will  vote  at  the  next  presi- 
dential election.  All  parties  are  committed  to  it.  We 
have  crossed  the  river,  and  will  never  go  back.  And  if 
the  fifteenth  amendment  is  rejected,  you  will  still  vote, 
for  I  am  well  satisfied  that  the  constitution  as  it  is  and 
that  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  when  interpreted  by  states- 
men in  the  light  of  the  great  revolution  in  your  condi- 
tion and  in  that  of  the  whole  country  and  according  to 
the  spirit  of  the  age  in  which  we  live,  establish  your 
right  to  vote. 

"In  my  judgment  you  are  citizens  with  all  the  capaci- 
ties that  belong  to  others.  I  believe  that  you  have  the 
right  to  vote,  and  are  now  eligible  to  office  ;  and  if  any 
colored  citizen  was  recommended  to  me  by  the  people 
who  are  interested,  as  the  most  suitable  person  to  fill 
any  office  that  comes  within  my  limit  or  my  power  of  ap- 
pointment, I  should  not  doubt  his  eligibility,  and  would 
not  hesitate  in  acceding  to  their  wishes. 

"We  are  now  all  citizens;  the  great  contest  is  over, 
and  we  must  unite  and  put  forth  all  of  our  efforts  to  ad- 
vance the  prosperity  of  this  great  and  free  republic,  and 
to  promote  the  happiness  of  all  of  its  people." 

The  following  oration  was  delivered  at  Oak  Ridge 
Cemetery,  May  31,  1871 : 

"CITIZENS — We  have  been  invited  to-day  to  aid  in 
dedicating  this  structure  to  be  a  memorial  of  a  man  that 
the  people  of  this  state  honor  and  revere  ;  and  we  have 
visited  the  quiet  spot  where  he  slept  all  that  time  has  left 
of  William  H.  Bissell,  the  soldier,  the  statesman  and  pa- 
triot, and  have  lovingly  borne  his  remains  to  this  place, 
and  have  deposited  them  here,  no  more  to  be  disturbed,  that 
this  beautiful  work  may  hereafter  perpetuate  his  name 
and  honor  his  memory.  This  solitary  monument  is  to 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  333 

stand  in  this  city  of  the  dead,  a  voiceless  yet  impressive 
witness  that  a  great  man  has  fallen,  but  he  is  not  for- 
gotten by  his  countrymen — while  the  inscriptions  cut 
into  solid  marble  testify  at  once  to  the  brevity  and  no- 
bility of  his  shining  and  useful  life. 

"You  have  done  your  work,  but  there  remains  to  me, 
as  successor  to  his  office  and  his  public  duties,  the  diffi- 
cult task  of  speaking  of  his  life  and  his  acts,  in  such  fit 
and  appropriate  terms  as  will  not  offend  against  taste, 
nor  do  an  injustice  to  the  memory  of  the  dead,  but  will 
afford  profitable  lessons  for  the  guidance  of  the  living. 

"Fellow-citizens — I  bespeak  your  charitable  indulgence 
while  I  attempt  the  proper  performance  of  my  responsi- 
ble and  delicate  duties.  You  do  not  expect  me  to  under- 
take a  recital  of  such  facts  in  the  life  history  of  Governor 
Bissell  as  are  common  to  us  all,  for  as  much  as  you  re- 
vere the  memory  of  his  life  and  cherish  his  fame,  they 
will  not  interest  you.  He  was  born,  he  lived,  he  died  ; 
and  he  shares  this  brief  biography  of  our  race  with  the 
almost  infinite  millions  who  in  the  centuries  past  were 
born,  lived  and  have  vanished — of  all  of  these,  this  much 
is  all  that  is  or  need  to  be  known.  Many  of  these  for- 
gotten ones  strutted  their  brief  hour  upon  'life's  busy 
stage,'  and  were  the  noble  and  great  of  their  day;  but 
now  their  names  and  their  deeds  are  lost  forever. 

"It  may  well  humble  the  lofty  and  the  proud  to 
realize  that  within  a  few  years  their  names  will  only  be 
known  to  the  students  of  the  vanishing  past,  and  none 
will  care  to  know  when  their  lives  began  or  when  they 
ended. 

"Indeed,  the  dates  of  human  deaths  and  births  are  of 
no  importance,  for  birth  and  death  signify  but  changes 
in  form  of  being ;  the  one  is  but  the  incarnation,  the 
other  the  release  of  a  soul ;  they  are  alike  inevitable,  and 
in  themselves  furnish  no  special  lesson  for  the  benefit  of 
mankind.  It  is  true  that  the  circumstances  that  sur- 
round an  early  childhood,  and  follow  it  in  its  growth, 
until  it  develops  into  mature  life,  are  of  vast  consequence. 


334  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

No  mortal  mind  can  fathom  and  no  words  explain 
the  extent  to  which  lives  are  impressed  and  influenced 
by  the  conditions  that  attend  childhood.  It  will  only  be 
fully  known  when  we  stand  in  the  presence  of  the  In- 
finite, to  what  extent  our  example  or  our  neglect  has 
taught  the  feet  of  innocent  childhood  to  stray  ;  and  it  is 
also  true  that  incidents  of  death  sometimes  impressively 
demonstrate  the  complete  growth  of  the  most  elevated 
qualities.  'The  end  of  the  righteous  is  peace.'  The 
true  man  at  the  close  of  a  well-spent  life  may  look  into 
the  abyss  that  lies  before  him  with  confidence  that  he  will 
awake  in  a  new  sphere  filled  with  labors  and  duties ; 
into  a  life  that  has  its  relations  and  obligations.  He 
must  resign  'this  pleasing,  anxious  being,'  but  he  will 
enter  into  another  possessed  of  larger  powers. 

"It  is  material,  therefore,  to  a  proper  understanding 
of  the  life  of  Governor  Bissell,  that  you  should  be  in- 
formed that  he  was  of  'humble  parentage.'  These  words 
we  have  inherited  from  our  mother  country,  together 
with  many  of  its  admirable  as  well  as  absurd  forms  of 
thought  and  expression,  and  are  used  to  signify  that  his 
parents  were  simple,  honest,  God-fearing  people.  If 
they  had  been  wealthy  and  influential,  I  would  no  doubt 
have  employed  the  only  admissible  republican  substitute 
for  nobility  by  declaring  them  to  have  been  'highly  re- 
spectable,' even  though  they  neither  *feared  God  nor 
regarded  man.' 

"During  his  childhood,  he  had  before  him  the  parental 
examples  of  industry  and  frugality  and  of  the  honest 
painstaking  discharge  of  daily  duties.  His  life  com- 
menced, and  his  boyhood  was  surrounded  by,  such  influ- 
ences and  no  other ;  and  none  that  knew  him  well  will 
doubt  that  they  were  the  foundations  of  the  rules  of  a 
life  singularly  brilliant  and  successful,  and  that  would, 
under  favorable  conditions  of  physical  health  and  con- 
stitutional vigor,  have  become  eminently  distinguished. 
Young  men  of  the  present  day  are  slow  to  comprehend 
the  difficulties  that  forty  years  ago  embarrassed  those 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  335 

who  were  eager  to  obtain  the  advantages  of  thorough 
literary  culture.  Even  in  some  of  the  states  that  are 
now  overflowing  with  wealth  and  population,  schools 
and  higher  institutions  of  learning  were  comparatively 
rare.  They  were  roads,  but  not  royal  roads,  and  Gov- 
ernor Bissell  was  able  by  these  agencies  to  acquire  a  re- 
spectable, though,  I  think,  not  a  thorough  academical 
education.  I  do  not  refer  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
childhood  and  youth  of  Governor  Bissell  to  find  corrobo- 
ration  for  the  popular  belief  that  enforced  industry  and 
self-denial  in  early  life  are  unfavorable  to  high  intel- 
lectual or  moral  development,  for,  contrary  to  the  gen- 
eral view,  I  am  persuaded  that  the  stern  lessons  of  pov- 
erty in  the  modified  and  softened  forms  in  which  it  pre- 
sents itself  in  our  country,  are  more  useful  and  im- 
pressive than  any  that  can  be  imparted  in  the  schools. 

The  unfortunate  young  man,  possessed  of  generous 
traits,  relieved  from  ill-judged  and  enervating  support, 
is  permitted  to  acquire  and  cultivate  the  master  quality^ 
of  manhood,  self-reliant  helpfulness — a  hopeful  and  en- 
during confidence  in  his  own  capacity  to  do.  This  lies 
at  the  foundation  of  all  true  success  in  life,  and  is  learned 
only  in  the  field  of  actual  struggle.  And  the  boy  who  is 
compelled  to  face  obstacles  and  overcome  them  will  enter 
manhood  with  a  courage  to  which  all  things  are  possible  ; 
and  though  he  may  in  the  great  battle  of  life  suffer  re- 
verses and  occasional  defeats,  he  will  win  the  victory 
at  last. 

Governor  Bissell  came  to  Illinois  in  his  early  man- 
hood, a  physician,  and  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession.  I  have  never  thought  it  to  be  singular  that 
a  man  of  his  active  and  ambitious  qualities,  but  acute 
and  inquisitive  mind,  should  have  been  at  first  fascinated 
by  the  study  of  the  laws  of  life  and  health,  of  disease 
and  death.  How  marvelous  it  is  that  we  live  and  move 
and  think  and  love  and  fear  and  hate ! 

"How  wonderful  it  is  that  we  thrill  with  abundant, 
joyous  health  !  that  we  tremble  and  cower  at  the  touch 


836  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

of  slight  disease,  and  how  astounding  that  death  is  on 
every  hand  around  us,  above,  beneath,  that  he  conceals 
himself  in  the  waters  and  floats  upon  the  breeze — he 
touches  and  we  are  no  more.  Those  who  knew  the 
quality  and  texture  of  Bissell's  mind  will  readily  under- 
stand the  earnestness  with  which  he  would  labor  to 
master  these  mysteries,  and  that  after  having  learned 
that  they  were  all  concealed  from  mortal  view,  that  they 
are  as  unfathomable  as  Nature  herself,  he  would  turn 
his  attention  to  other  fields  of  effort.  He  was  elected 
to  the  legislature,  and  was  engaged  in  public  employ- 
ment with  slight  interruptions  for  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  He  turned  his  attention  to  the  profession  of  law, 
and  soon  attained  a  high  rank  in  his  new  calling.  On 
the  breaking  out  of  the  war  with  Mexico,  he  was  chosen 
the  commander  of  a  regiment,  and  during  his  term  of 
service,  he  evinced  the  possession  of  high  military  qual- 
ities. Soon  after  the  close  of  the  war,  he  was  elected  to 
a  seat  in  the  national  congress,  and  was  afterwards 
chosen  to  be  governor  of  the  state,  the  tenth  in  the  or- 
der of  service,  and  died  on  March  18,  1860,  before  the 
expiration  of  his  constitutional  term,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
eight  years. 

"How  brief  this  life,  and  how  few  are  the  leading 
events  to  which  I  have  referred !  and  yet  I  have  already 
declared  in  your  hearing  that  such  a  life  is  to  be  regarded 
as  successful. 

"Biography  is  history,  and  the  history  of  the  world  is 
usually  written  as  if  there  was  nothing  worthy  to  be 
chronicled  but  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  empires,  the  be- 
ginning and  end  of  dynasties,  and  the  marches  and  bat- 
tles of  armies  ;  and  yet  these,  of  all  others,  are  the  facts 
least  worthy  to  be  remembered.  Man,  under  God,  is  the 
universe,  and  information  that  his  governmental  forms, 
at  different  periods,  have  justified  one  or  some  other 
designation,  furnishes  no  clue  by  which  the  actual  con- 

o  * 

dition  of  peoples  may  be  ascertained. 

"Emperors  and  kings  have  been  sometimes  the  guard- 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  337 

ians  of  liberty  and  popular  forms  of  government,  on  the 
other  hand,  have  often  been  administered  by  the  despotic 
and  cruel.  Armies  are  but  imperfect  types  of  the  civiliza- 
tion of  their  period,  and  great  battles  won  in  the  name 
of  despotism  have  often  proved  to  be  the  triumph  of 
human  freedom. 

"The  events  that  constitute  the  staple  of  history  are 
valueless  until  subjected  to  philosophical  analysis,  and 
are  considered  in  all  their  relations  and  influences  ;  and, 
when  this  is  wisely  done,  the  age  to  which  they  are  to 
be  referred  stands  out  before  us  like  a  picture,  in  which 
every  object  preserves  its  proper  proportions.  And  so  it 
is  in  the  leading  facts  in  the  life  history  of  eminent  men. 
We  may  be  told  that  Washington  was  the  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  American  armies  during  the  war  of  the 
revolution,  and  that  he  was  afterwards  president  of  the 
United  States  ;  but  these  are  the  most  unimportant  cir- 
cumstances of  his  grand  and  sublime  life.  We  are  to 
be  instructed  and  profited  by  a  history  of  his  minor, 
inner  life,  by  a  knowledge  of  all  those  admirable  quali- 
ties that  existed,  and,  when  so  happily  combined,  con- 
stituted the  man  who  was  'first  in  war,  first  in  peace, 
and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen.'  And  those  of 
us  who  stand  here  near  the  city  of  Springfield,  which  was 
his  cherished  home  when  he  lived — and  in  this  solemn 
city  which  is  his  home  now  that  he  is  dead — and  within 
sight  of  that  towering  column  erected  to  point  to  the 
pilgrims  of  liberty  who  may  inquire  for  the  tomb  of  the 
noble  martyr  where  he  sleeps,  do  not,  when  we  speak  of 
Lincoln,  say  he  was  once  a  member  of  congress,  or  that 
he  was  twice  elected  to  the  highest  place  in  the  gift  of 
the  American  people,  for  we  know  that  these  events  were 
but  the  result  of  the  qualities  that  marked  him  the  cen- 
tral figure  in  the  sublimest  events  of  history ;  but  we 
speak  of  his  modesty,  his  truthfulness,  his  fidelity  to  the 
right,  his  industry,  his  wonderful  wealth  of  firmness 
and  courage,  his  broad  capacity,  that  were  so  suddenly 
22 


338  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

developed  by  the  responsibilities  of  his  great  place  that 
they  seemed  to  us  like  the  inspirations  of  Deity ;  his 
patriotism  and  the  golden  chain  of  personal  excellencies 
that  cannot  be  described  and  that  bound  all  these  into 
a  compact  and  harmonious  whole,  so  lofty  and  so  great 
that  it  astonished  us  who  knew  him  best  and  imagined 
we  knew  all  that  was  to  be  learned  of  his  character. 
Men  are  to  be  studied  and  described  by  their  qualities, 
their  capacities  and  their  trials.  In  the  true  portraiture 
of  their  history,  events  in  their  lives  are  only  appealed 
to  as  witnesses — acts  are  but  the  objective  types  or  re- 
sults of  inner  forces. 

"I  have  already  mentioned  that  Governor  Bissell 
abandoned  his  early  profession  for  that  of  law  ;  for  this 
field  of  labor  he  possessed  many  natural  qualifications. 
He  was  a  clear  and  accurate  thinker,  and  was  an  honest 
thinker,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  use  a  term  that  more 
properly  belongs  to  the  domain  of  morals,  to  illustrate 
mere  intellectual  processes.  Notwithstanding  the  rigor 
and  exactness  of  all  true  forms  of  logical  reasoning, 
every  one  has  observed  that  some  minds  are  so  radically 
oblique,  that  they  cannot  perceive  or  accept,  but  will 
always,  though  unconsciously,  resist  the  most  accurate 
deductions  of  reason. 

"Such  persons  are  affected  by  what  maybe  very  fairly 
termed  intellectual  color-blindness.  The  mental  eye  is 
incapable  of  perceiving  some  of  the  rays  of  light  that 
contribute  to  the  true  color  of  truth,  and  they  therefore 
labor  on,  all  unconscious  of  their  existence.  His  mind, 
at  a  glance,  took  into  view  all  the  shades  of  truth,  and 
accepted  logical  results  as  if  they  were  the  decrees  of 
fate.  He  cherished  for  the  law  the  most  profound  re- 
spect, and,  like  the  sages  whose  wisdom  has  made  the 
profession  illustrious,  he  esteemed  the  law  to  be  'the 
science  of  practical  justice,'  and  held  that  its  professors 
are  bound  by  the  most  solemn  obligation  to  maintain 
and  enforce  it.  In  his  view,  the  law  is  a  shield  to  the 
helpless  and  a  defense  to  the  innocent.. 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  339 

"Some  who  are  now  present  will  remember  when  Bis- 
sell  was  the  representative  of  public  justice,  and  when 
the  ablest  of  the  profession  esteemed  it  an  honor  to  be 
selected  to  defend  the  poor.  His  antagonists  felt  as- 
sured that  the  claims  of  the  law  would  be  maintained, 
but  that  justice  and  right  would  never  be  disregarded. 
Some  of  his  professional  rivals  live  to-day  to  cherish  his 
memory ;  but  others,  ah !  how  many  of  them,  are  alike 
gone  to  appear  before  the  tribunal  of  the  Infinite  Judge  ! 

"As  a  politician,  he  was  earnest  and  sincere.  The 
ostensible  grounds  of  political  controversy  in  the  earlier 
years  of  the  public  life  of  Governor  Bissell  are  but  of 
little  real  importance. 

"The  great  conflict  that  created  the  Democratic  and 
Whig  parties  was  over.  As  early  as  the  year  1840,  the 
Whig  party,  upon  issues  that  are  not  easily  explained, 
carried  the  presidential  election,  and  nearly  all  of  the 
states,  but  it  perished  in  the  very  hour  of  its  triumph,  and 
in  1844  the  Democratic  party,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr. 
Polk,  captured,  and  carried  into  the  citadel,  with  shouts 
of  triumph,  the  'wooden  horse,'  filled  with  its  deadliest 
enemies. 

"The  inauguration  of  Mr.  Polk  was  followed  by  a 
war  with  Mexico,  and  the  results  of  the  war  forced  upon 
the  country  the  necessity  of  considering  some  of  the 
aspects  of  the  even  then  dreaded  slavery  question. 

"Governor  Bissell,  who  had  borne  an  honorable  part 
in  the  war,  was  elected  by  the  people  of  his  district  to 
represent  them  in  the  house  of  representatives  in  the 
federal  congress,  and  early  distinguished  himself  upon 
that  theater  for  clearness  of  views,  and  for  his  calm, 
though  courageous,  utterances.  He  entertained  the 
opinion  that  slavery  when  established  or  maintained 
within  any  of  the  states  by  their  own  authority,  equally 
firm  in  the  expression  of  the  belief  that  it  did  not  exist 
and  could  not  be  established  by  federal  authorities  in  any 
of  the  territories  acquired  from  Mexico. 

"The  discussions  in  congress  on  this  and  kindred  top- 


340  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

ics  were  attended  by  the  usual  explosions  of  passion 
and  feeling.  Amid  all  the  scenes  of  these  turbulent  ses- 
sions of  congress,  Governor  Bissell  bore  himself  with 
that  quiet  calmness  that  had  characterized  him  on  the 
field  of  Buena  Vista.  He  was  courteous  to  all ;  he  was 
dignified  and  deferential,  but  in  spite  of  all  this,  he  be- 
came involved  in  an  affair  that  no  one  who  undertakes 
to  do  justice  to  his  memory  can  pass  over  in  silence. 

"For  decorous  words,  calmly  and  courteously  spoken 
though  in  debate,  he  was  challenged  by  Mr.  Jefferson 
Davis,  then  a  member  of  congress  from  Mississippi,  but 
afterwards  notorious  as  the  chief  of  the  brief  and  ill- 
starred  Southern  Confederacy,  to  fight  a  duel,  and  he 
coolly  and  decisively  accepted  the  challenge.  Before 
discussing  the  questions  of  morality  and  propriety  that 
are  to  be  considered  in  determining  upon  the  conduct  of 
Bissell  upon  this  occasion,  I  may  be  permitted  to  say 
that  his  acceptance  of  this  challenge  was  with  a  delib- 
erate intention  to  fight.  He  proposed  no  unusual 
weapons  or  terms  ;  he  indulged  in  no  useless  words.  In 
this  respect,  his  conduct  was  characteristic  of  his  life. 

"Whether  his  acceptance  of  the  challenge  was  justi- 
fiable or  not,  depends  upon  all  the  attending  circum- 
stances. Personal  self-defense  is  a  right  recognized  alike 
by  divine  and  human  laws,  and  that  defense  is  most  per- 
fect that  not  only  repels,  but  anticipates  and  prevents 
danger. 

"The  war  of  sections  that  afterwards  summoned  mil- 
lions to  the  field,  had  even  then  commenced,  and  the  chal- 
lenge of  Mr.  Davis  was  addressed,  not  only  to  William 
Bissell,  but  to  his  state  and  the  whole  North.  Northern 
public  men,  then  and  afterwards,  under  the  mistaken 
belief  that  the  Northern  people  demanded  that  they 
should  not  repel  insult  by  the  punishment  of  the  ag- 
gressor, submitted  to  contumely  and  outrage  to  an  ex- 
tent that  even  now  cannot  be  remembered  without  a 
blush  of  indignation.  It  seemed,  then,  to  be  demanded 
of  public  men  that  they  should  speak  freely  and  assert 


VETO  MANY  BILLS.  341 

the  right  to  freedom  of  speech,  but  that  they  should  not 
employ  the  only  mode  possible  for  its  defense.  I  admit 
that  the  principles  of  Christianity  condemn  all  forms  of 
violence  not  employed  within  the  strictest  limits  of  self- 
defense,  but  I  have  often  felt  that  the  right  to  employ 
force  in  the  vindication  of  other  rights  is  as  sacred  and 
as  necessary  as  that  of  personal  self-protection. 

"At  that  time  it  was  the  purpose  of  the  Southern  pub- 
lic men  to  subjugate  the  whole  continent  to  slavery  ;  and 
personal  menaces  and  insults  towards  members  of  con- 
gress from  the  North  and  "West  were  the  means  resorted 
to,  to  give  effect  to  their  plans.  They  trusted  in  the 
efficacy  of  intimidation,  and  the  challenge  to  Governor 
Bissell  was  an  experiment  in  that  direction,  and  history 
has  already  testified  as  to  the  measure  of  its  success.  In 
my  judgment,  under  the  circumstances  that  then  ex- 
isted, the  acceptance  of  this  challenge  was  simply  the 
discharge  of  a  necessary  duty  to  the  state.  There  was  no 
middle  ground.  Insults  must  have  been  borne  or  re- 
sented. Intimidation  must  have  been  submitted  to  or 
repelled,  and  no  man  ought  now  to  hesitate  to  decide  as 
to  what  was  the  proper  line  of  duty.  But  I  have  con- 
sumed too  much  time  upon  this  interesting  episode  in  the 
life  of  the  distinguished  man  whose  remains  are  to  be 
to-day  forever  shut  out  from  mortal  view. 

"Before  the  close  of  his  congressional  term,  he  was 
smitten  by  that  mysterious  disease  that  pursued  him 
without  relenting  until  the  close  of  his  life.  In  the  year 
of  1856  he  was  elected  by  the  people  to  be  the  governor 
of  Illinois,  but  even  before  that  event  which  afforded  him 
gratifying  proof  of  the  affection  and  confidence  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  it  was  manifest  to  his  friends  that  his 
active  career  was  ended.  He  brought  to  the  administra- 
tion of  the  state  the  resources  of  a  clear  and  still  vigor- 
ous mind  and  an  earnest  purpose  to  advance  the  public 
weal,  but  his  stealthy  foe  did  not  release  his  grasp,  and 
on  March  18,  1860,  quietly  removed  him  from  earth. 

"I  have  thus  briefly  spoken  of  the  dead,  but  not  fully  ; 


342  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

have  presented  points  in  his  history  and  character  that 
are  worthy  of  study  and  imitation — and  now  we  leave 
these  poor  remains  to  rest  here  in  peace  until  the  great 
day  when  he  and  ourselves  shall  rise  and  stand  together 
before  the  throne  of  the  Eternal. 

"Gentlemen,  you  who  were  charged  by  the  state  with 
the  duty  of  designing  this  monument,  have  acquitted 
yourselves  well.  Governor  Bissell  was  the  official  asso- 
ciate of  some  of  you  and  the  friend  of  all — your's  has 
been  a  melancholy  duty,  but  on  your  part  one  of  love. 
Accept  the  thanks  of  the  people  of  the  state  through  me 
for  your  fidelity  to  your  sacred  trust." 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  343 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

The  Chicago  fire— Correspondence  with  Mayor  Mason  and  the  Presi- 
dent— Messages  to  the  general  assembly. 

I  first  heard  of  the  great  fire  in  Chicago  at  Auburn,  in 
Sangamon  county.  I  had  gone  to  Carlinville  on  busi- 
ness, and  was  on  my  return  to  Springfield.  After  I  had 
heard  something  of  the  extent  of  the  fire,  I  telegraphed 
to  General  E.  B.  Harlan,  my  private  secretary,  to  meet 
me  at  the  train,  prepared  to  go  to  Chicago.  He  did  so, 
and  I  authorized  him  to  draw  on  me  for  $5,000,  to  be 
taken  from  the  contingent  fund  of  $10,000  which  was 
subject  to  the  control  of  the  governor,  to  be  expended  by 
him  for  contingent  expenses.  I  instructed  General 
Harlan  to  report  to  the  mayor  of  Chicago.  He  did  so  ; 
reached  Chicago  at  10  o'clock  p.  M.,  and  without  delay 
reported  to  the  office  of  the  mayor,  but  was  told  that  he 
had  gone  to  his  home.  He  again  visited  the  office  of 
the  mayor  the  next  morning  and  met  him,  and  upon  in- 
formation obtained  there  as  to  the  public  necessities, 
drew  upon  me  for  $5,000  to  be  applied  to  the  relief  of 
the  sufferers.  At  about  one  o'clock  on  the  same  day 
(October  9th) ,  I  telegraphed  to  the  mayor  the  following 
dispatch  : 

"To  COLONEL  R.  B.  MASON,  Mayor  of  Chicago — Shall 
I  send  food  for  your  people?  Answer;  tell  me  what  I 
can  do.  JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

At  two-forty  o'clock  I  received  from  the  mayor  the 
following  answer : 

"CHICAGO,  October  9,  1871. 

"To  JOHN  M.  PALMER — We  want  bread,  cheese  and 
cooked  provisions  ;  also  tents  for  the  houseless. 

"R.  B.  MASON,  Mayor." 


344  THE  STORY  OF   AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

I  at  once  caused  two  thousand  hand-bills  to  be  printed 
and  circulated  throughout  Springfield,  calling  for  contri- 
butions, and  from  purchases  made  by  me  and  from  con- 
tributions made  by  the  people,  I  was  able  by  eight 
o'clock  to  telegraph  the  mayor  : 

"SPRINGFIELD,  October  9,  1871. 

"R.  B.  MASON,  Mayor  of  Chicago — Three  carloads  leave 
here  at  ten  o'clock ;  others  follow  to-morrow.  Do  you 
need  potatoes,  flour,  etc.,  or  can  you  buy  better  there  if 
money  is  sent.  JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

On  the  morning  of  October  10th,  finding  that  tele- 
graphic communication  with  Chicago  was  suspended, 
and  having  no  report  from  my  secretary,  I  drew  the 
sum  of  $2,000  from  the  treasury  of  the  state  as  part  of 
the  contingent  fund,  and  forwarded  it  to  Mayor  Mason 
by  Rev.  F.  H.  Wines,  secretary  of  the  board  of  public 
charities.  At  twenty  minutes  past  one  o'clock  of  the 
same  day,  I  received  the  following  dispatch  from  Gen- 
eral A.  Stager : 

"CHICAGO,  October  10,  1871. 

"To  GOVERNOR  PALMER  :  Sir — The  fire  spent  its  fury 
in  all  directions  yesterday  afternoon  after  completely  de- 
molishing all  the  business  part  of  the  city  on  the  south 
side  north  of  Harrison  street.  Everything  gone  on  the 
north  side  from  the  river  and  lake  to  Lincoln  Park  ;  gas 
and  water  stopped.  Great  consternation  and  anxiety  ex- 
ists on  account  of  the  presence  of  roughs  and  thieves, 
who  are  plundering  in  all  directions.  Two  incendiaries 
shot  last  night  while  in  the  act  of  firing  buildings  in  the 
south  side  of  the  city.  Strong  southerly  wind  has  pre- 
vailed since  Saturday  night ;  at  times  blows  a  gale.  A 
little  rain  fell  last  night.  The  mayor  is  now  organizing 
a  patrol ;  the  poor  and  houseless  are  suffering." 

I  knew  that  General  Stager  was  connected  officially 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  345 

with  the  telegraph  lines  and  would  receive  my  dispatch. 
I  immediately  answered  him  : 

"CHICAGO,  ILL.,  October  10,  1871. 
"GENERAL  A.  STAGER  :  Sir — Please  inform  the  mayor 
that  if  the  presence  of  organized  forces  is  necessary  for 
the  preservation  of  property  and  order,  I  will  at  once 
send  two  or  three  well-organized  companies  into  Chi- 
cago. Thanks  for  your  dispatch. 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

At  half-past  four  o'clock,  he  replied  : 

"October  10,  1871. 

"To  GOVERNOR  PALMER  :  Sir — The  mayor  requests  me 
to  say  to  the  governor  to  send  men  immediately  by  special 
train  to  report  directly  to  the  mayor,  at  No.  365  Michigan 
avenue.  ANSON  STAGER." 

On  the  receipt  of  the  last  dispatch  from  General 
Stager,  I  directed  the  adjutant-general,  Colonel  Dilger, 
to  issue  the  telegraphic  orders  to  officers  of  organized 
militia  that  are  appended  to  this  report,  marked  1,  2,  3,  4. 

I  at  once  prepared  and  issued  the  call  for  a  special 
session  of  the  general  assembly  to  meet  on  October  13th, 
and  telegraphed  the  call  to  members  of  both  houses, 
and  also  addressed  a  letter  to  the  mayor  of  Chicago  in 
the  following  words  . 

"STATE  OF  ILLINOIS,  EXECUTIVE  DEP'T. 

"SPRINGFIELD,  October  10,  1871. 

"COLONEL  E.  B.  MASON  :  Dear  sir — Colonel  H.  Dilger, 
adjutant-general,  will  leave  here  this  evening  with  one 
company  of  militia  and  one  thousand  muskets.  He  will 
also,  after  reporting  to  you,  organize  for  the  preservation 
of  order  in  your  city.  Colonel  Dilger  is  an  old  soldier, 
has  served  under  my  eye  on  the  field,  and  will  preserve 


346  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

order  at  all  hazards.     He  has  orders  to  enforce  law,  and 
has  muskets  enough  to  do  it  effectually. 

"Respectfully,  JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

The  adjutant-general  left  Springfield  at  nine  o'clock 
p.  M.,  and  reached  Chicago  at  four  o'clock  on  the  morn- 
ing of  Wednesday,  October  llth,  with  about  two  hun- 
dred well-armed  men  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  muskets, 
and  had  one  thousand  additional  muskets  with  ammuni- 
tion ,  boxed ,  to  be  sent  after  him .  Immediately  and  as  early 
as  six  o'clock,  he  called  upon  the  mayor,  and  at  his  re- 
quest within  a  few  minutes  afterwards  reported  to  Lieu- 
tenant-General Sheridan  ;  and  as  other  troops  had  in  the 
meantime  arrived,  at  eight  o'clock  he  had  three  hundred 
and  fifteen  men  on  duty,  and  by  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, he  had  five  hundred  and  sixteen  men  well  organ- 
ized under  the  command  of  skillful  and  prudent  officers 
and  one  battery  of  four  guns,  ready  to  enforce  the  laws 
or  suppress  disorder,  and  he  could,  within  a  few  hours, 
have  easily  increased  his  force  to  two  thousand  men,  if 
necessary.  During  October  10,  1871, 1  continued  to  exert 
myself  to  procure  supplies  for  the  destitute,  and  ad- 
dressed to  the  mayor  the  following  additional  dispatch  : 

"SPRINGFIELD,  October  10,  1871. 

"To  E.  B.  MASON,  Mayor  of  Chicago — Two  car  loads  of 
bread,  crackers,  cheese  and  cooked  meats  left  here  for 
your  sufferers  last  night ;  two  car  loads  of  potatoes  and 
one  of  bread  and  meat,  cooked,  will  leave  here  this 
morning.  JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

On  the  llth  of  October,  anxious  for  a  class  that  are 
forgotten  in  time  of  excitement  and  confusion,  I  ad- 
dressed to  the  Hon.  Elmer  Baldwin,  chairman  of  the 
board  of  state  charities,  the  following  dispatch  : 

"SPRINGFIELD,  October  11,  1871. 

"HoN.  ELMER  BALDWIN,  Chairman  of  Board  of  Public 
Charities — Had  you  not  better  go  to  Chicago  and  see  that 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  347 

the  ordinary  objects  of  charity  are  not  forgotten?     Mr. 
Wines  is  there.     Report  the  results  of  your  visit. 

"JoHN  M.  PALMER." 

At  ten  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  of  the  same  day,  I  re- 
ceived from  the  adjutant-general  the  following  dispatch  : 

"CHICAGO,  October  11,  1871. 

"To  GOVERNOR  JOHN  M.  PALMER — The  rumors  re- 
ceived yesterday  were  exaggerated.  The  mayor  did  not 
know  about  the  dispatches  for  troops ;  referred  me  to 
General  Sheridan,  who  desired  me  to  march  the  men 
through  town  for  the  moral  effect ;  he  has  seven  hundred 
United  States  troops  here.  I  am  waiting  for  your  orders 
at  Chicago  and  Alton  depot.  No  more  arms  needed. 

"H.  DILGER." 

I  was  delighted  with  the  information  furnished  me, 
and  at  once  addressed  to  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan 
the  following  dispatch : 

"SPRINGFIELD,  ILLINOIS,  October  11,  1871. 
"LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  P.  H.  SHERIDAN,  CHICAGO, 
ILLINOIS — Please  inform  me  of  the  number  of  troops  or- 
dered into  Chicago  by  you  on  account  of  the  fire  and 
that  are  now  on  duty  in  the  city?  Thanks  for  your 
promptness.  JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

I  felt  proud  of  the  people  who  had  suffered  so  much 
and  had  behaved  so  nobly,  and,  anxious  to  relieve  them 
from  the  presence  of  even  citizen  soldiery,  I  ordered  the 
one  thousand  muskets  that  were  still  in  the  depot  at  this 
place  (Springfield)  to  be  returned  to  the  arsenal,  and 
telegraphed  General  Dilger  the  following  order  : 

"SPRINGFIELD,  October  11,  1871. 

"To  COLONEL  H.  DILGER,  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS — If  your 
services  are  not  required,  return  as  soon  as  you  can. 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER." 


348  THE  STORY  OF   AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

I  think  it  proper  at  this  point  that  I  should  say  that  I 
do  not  believe  that  the  least  necessity  for  the  employment 
of  military  forces  in  Chicago  existed.  During  the  night 
of  the  8th  of  October  and  all  of  the  9th,  while  the  fire 
still  threatened  to  destroy  the  city,  on  the  day  and  night 
of  the  10th,  while  the  streets  were  filled  with  the  hun- 
gry and  the  homeless,  the  police,  supported  by  a  single 
battalion  of  state  militia,  who  had  tendered  their  serv- 
ices to  the  chief  of  the  city  police  on  the  9th  of  October, 
preserved  order  and  enforced  the  law. 

The  only  dangers  that  have  threatened  the  tranquillity 
of  Chicago  were  the  fears  of  a  part  of  its  inhabitants, 
coupled  with  a  distrust  of  the  authorities  provided  by 
law.  Some  time  during  the  afternoon  of  the  llth  day 
of  October,  I  received  the  following  dispatch  from  Col- 
onel Dilger : 

CHICAGO,  October  11,  1871. 

"To  GOVERNOR  PALMER — The  city  council  and  Gen- 
eral Sheridan  desire  me  to  say  that  your  presence  here 
would  have  a  very  good  effect.  The  city  is,  so  far, 
quiet.  I  take  charge  of  the  north  side,  with  our  Spring- 
field boys  ;  they  behave  very  well. 

"DILGER,  Adjutant-General."" 

At  nine  o'clock  on  the  same  day,  I  received  from 
Lieutenant-General  Sheridan  the  following  answer  to  my 
dispatch  to  him  : 

"HEADQUARTERS  MIL.  Div.  OF  Mo.,  Oct.  11,  1871. 
"GOVERNOR  JOHN  M.  PALMER,  SPRINGFIELD,  ILLINOIS — 
Seven  companies  of  the  United  States  troops  are  here, 
or  coming,  and  a  regiment  is  being  organized  for  twenty 
days'  service,  from  the  old  soldiers  of  the  city,  which  I 
think  will  be  ample.  Shall  keep  your  volunteers  for  a 
day  or  so.  Thanks  for  them.  P.  H.  SHERIDAN." 

Before  receiving  General  Sheridan's  answer,  I  had  de- 
termined to  go  in  person  to  Chicago,  and  accordingly 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  349 

took  the  first  train,  and  reached  there  about  eleven 
o'clock  in  the  forenoon  of  the  12th,  and  called  upon  the 
mayor.  At  my  interview  with  him,  he  assured  me  that 
the  city  was  quiet,  and  being  anxious  about  the  position, 
as  well  as  the  comforts  of  the  troops  then  in  the  city 
under  my  orders,  I  called  upon  Lieutenant-General  Sher- 
idan, and  in  his  presence  received  the  report  of  the  ad- 
jutant-general and  of  Mayor  Beardsley,  of  Rock  Island, 
in  whose  judgment  I  had  great  confidence,  and  he  con- 
curred with  their  statement  that  quiet  and  order  pre- 
vailed throughout  the  city,  and  I  left  with  the  expecta- 
tion that  the  militia  would  at  once  return  to  their  homes, 
and  that  the  regular  troops  then  in  the  city  would  be 
withdrawn  when  convenient. 

Under  these  impressions,  I  left  Chicago  at  nine  o'clock 
p.  M.  of  the  12th,  to  meet  the  general  assembly,  which 
was  expected  to  assemble  on  the  13th  at  noon. 

The  general  assembly  convened  on  the  13th,  but  ad- 
journed to  meet  again  on  the  15th,  to  legislate  for  Chi- 
cago. In  the  meantime,  most  of  the  members  visited 
Chicago,  and  saw  for  themselves  the  extent  of  the  rav- 
ages of  the  fire. 

On  October  16, 1871,  I  transmitted  my  message  to  the 
general  assembly,  in  which  I  attempted  to  describe  the 
great  conflagration,  but  confess  the  poverty  of  the  at- 
tempt. I  said  that  "on  the  8th  day  of  the  present  month, 
a  fire  broke  out  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  which  in  a  few 
hours  destroyed  a  large  portion  of  the  city.  It  is  use- 
less to  attempt  to  describe  the  awful  and  saddening 
spectacle  of  the  most  wealthy  and  populous  portion  of 
our  great  city.  The  destroyer  came  suddenly,  and  un- 
der circumstances  at  once  calculated  to  impress  us  with 
a  sense  of  our  littleness. 

"Chicago  is  situated  on  a  great  lake,  it  is  intersected 
by  a  river.  It  was  provided  with  all  the  means  of  pro- 
tection against  fire  that  are  the  products  of  the  united 
efforts  of  advanced  science  and  skill  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion, yet  in  the  presence  of  the  destructive  element  men 


350  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

were  powerless,  and  it  pursued  its  course  until  noth- 
ing was  left  for  it  to  destroy.  In  the  course  of  this  re- 
markable conflagration,  which  has  already  taken  its 
place  in  history  with  the  greatest  calamities  that  have 
afflicted  mankind,  the  flames,  with  unexampled  fury, 
swept  over  the  eastern  part  of  the  devoted  city,  de- 
stroyed many  lives,  consumed  churches,  hospitals, 
schools,  dwellings,  warehouses,  stores,  bridges  and 
structures  of  every  kind.  Everything  perished  at  their 
touch,  and  whole  wards  of  the  city  were  left  without  a 
house  or  an  inhabitant. 

"No  reliable  estimate  of  the  number  of  lives  lost  can 
as  yet  be  made,  but  the  amount  of  property  destroyed 
is  estimated  at  three  hundred  million  dollars.  In  view 
of  the  circumstances,  I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  convene 
a  session  of  the  general  assembly,  and  accordingly,  on 
October  10th,  I  issued  the  proclamation  which  I  have 
had  the  honor  to  lay  before  you.  .  .  .  The  first 
question  to  be  decided  by  the  general  assembly,  after  a 
careful  review  of  the  situation,  is,  what  can  be  done  for 
the  relief  of  the  people,  and  for  discharging  the  duties 
of  the  state? 

"In  finding  an  answer  to  this  question,  there  are 
some  difficulties  and  causes  of  embarrassment  that  are 
yet  to  be  stated,  and  these  are,  that  the  court-house, 
jail  and  public  offices  and  records  of  Cook  county  are 
destroyed.  The  tax-books  are  consumed,  so  that  the 
collection  of  unpaid  taxes  cannot  without  great  difficulty 
be  enforced.  The  courts  are  powerless.  The  utmost 
confusion  as  to  the  titles  of  land  must  soon  prevail.  All 
the  offices  and  most  of  the  records  of  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago are  lost ;  still  the  question,  what  can  be  done  by 
the  state?  presses  for  an  answer,  and  all  the  wisdom,  ex- 
perience and  patience  of  the  general  assembly  is  invoked 
to  furnish  a  full,  complete  and  satisfactory  response. 

"The  general  political  proposition,  that  .that  govern- 
ment is  to  be  regarded  as  the  best  that  interferes  with 
the  people  the  least,  will  remain  forever  true,  and  ex- 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  351 

perieuce  has  conclusively  shown  that  intelligent  men 
and  women  are,  under  all  ordinary  circumstances,  more 
capable  of  providing  for  their  own  wants,  managing  their 
own  affairs,  and  regulating  their  own  conduct,  than 
any  government  can  be,  however  organized  or  admin- 
istered. 

"It  seems  to  me,  then,  that  the  people  of  Chicago  and 
Cook  county  who  have  suffered  losses  require  nothing 
from  the  state  but  to  be  left  free  to  employ  their  unexam- 
pled and  unbroken  energies  to  the  great  work  of  rebuild- 
ing their  homes.  They  need  no  loans  or  gifts  from  the 
United  States  or  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  unless  I 
greatly  mistake  them,  they  will  ask  no  more  than  that 
the  state  shall  assume  the  discharge  of  its  own  proper 
duties  and  relieve  them  from  burdens  that  from  their 
peculiar  situation  were  always  heavy,  but  have  been 
cheerfully  borne,  so  that  they  may  be  left  to  apply  all 
their  resources  to  their  own  great  task. 

"It  is  primarily  the  duty  of  the  state  to  provide  for 
the  poor,  the  blind,  the  insane,  and  all  other  helpless 
classes,  and  for  the  enforcement  of  its  laws  everywhere 
within  its  limits.  It  is  also  its  duty  to  provide  for  the 
construction  of  highways,  building  bridges  and  the  sup- 
port of  schools.  The  State  of  Illinois  has  always  recog- 
nized the  obligations  of  these  duties,  and  for  the  more 
convenient  performance  of  many  of  them,  counties,  town- 
ships, cities,  towns  and  other  organizations  have  been 
established  by  law.  They  are  but  parts  of  the  machin- 
ery employed  in  carrying  on  the  affairs  of  the  state,  and 
the  authority  and  duty  of  each  are  confined  to  certain 
well-defined  territorial  as  well  as  legal  boundaries,  that 
may  be  modified  or  destroyed  as  the  exigencies  of  the 
public  may  demand  ;  and  whenever  from  any  cause  any 
one  of  these  agencies  becomes  unequal  to  the  discharge 
of  the  duties  assigned  to  them,  or  the  public  duties  im- 
posed upon  them  becomes  too  burdensome  or  oppres- 
sive on  the  people  embraced  within  their  limits,  it  is  the 


352  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

duty  of  the  state  to  provide  other  means  for  their  per- 
formance. 

"It  is  a  fact  that  requires  no  proof,  that  the  county 
of  Cook  and  the  city  of  Chicago,  two  of  the  most  im- 
portant of  the  classes  of  the  public  agencies  to  which 
they  respectively  belong,  are,  from  causes  that  are  well 
understood,  unable  to  continue  the  full  discharge  of  all 
the  duties  that  were  imposed  upon  them.  From  an  in- 
evitable accident,  their  resources  are  diminished  and 
their  local  burdens  are  vastly  increased,  so  that  they  are 
no  longer  available  to  the  state  as  governmental  agencies 
for  all  the  purposes  for  which  they  are  created,  and  it 
follows  from  that  fact,  that  to  the  extent  that  the  re- 
quirements of  such  duties  are  in  excess  of  the  legal  re- 
sources of  the  county  and  city,  such  duties  must  be  as- 
sumed by  the  state,  and  the  general  assembly  must  de- 
vise other  methods  for  their  performance. 

"It  is  a  remarkable  illustration  of  the  difficulty  of  pro- 
viding for  every  possible  contingency  by  constitutional 
regulations,  that  certain  of  the  provisions  of  the  consti- 
tution of  1870  that  were  intended  to  restrict  the  powers 
of  municipal  corporations  and  were  resisted  upon  that 
ground,  will  be  found  to  operate  to  relieve  the  county 
of  Cook  and  the  city  of  Chicago  of  what  would  otherwise 
be  intolerable  burdens. 

"Every  part  of  the  constitution  abounds  with  proof, 
that  its  framers  regarded  the  municipal  organizations 
of  the  state  as  mere  administrative  agencies,  and  that 
they  intended  to  deprive  them  of  all  emergent  or  dis- 
cretionary authority,  except  within  very  narrow  limits. 

"By  the  twelfth  section  of  the  ninth  article  of  the 
constitution,  it  is  provided  that  'no  county,  city,  town- 
ship, school  district  or  other  municipal  corporation  shall 
be  allowed  to  become  indebted  in  any  manner  or  for  any 
purpose  to  an  amount  including  existing  indebtedness 
in  the  aggregate  exceeding  five  per  centum  of  the  tax- 
able property  therein,  to  be  ascertained  by  the  last  as- 
sessment for  state  and  county  taxes.  .  .  .'  And  by 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  353 

the  eighth  section  of  the  same  article,  county  authorities 
are  prohibited  from  assessing  taxes  the  aggregate  of 
which  shall  exceed  seventy-five  cents  on  the  hundred 
dollars  valuation.  Then,  whatever  power  to  raise  money 
for  necessary  public  purposes  the  state  has  denied  its 
local  municipal  organizations,  it  has  reserved  to  itself  to 
be  exercised  by  the  general  assembly. 

"The  financial  resources  of  municipal  and  local  or- 
ganizations are  necessarily  limited  to  their  powers  to  con- 
tract debts  and  to  impose  taxes.  When  these  powers 
have  been  exerted  to  the  utmost  legal  or  possible  limit, 
and  are  inadequate  to  the  complete  performance  of  their 
duties  to  the  state,  they  must  be  relieved  of  such  duties 
altogether,  for  the  accepted  construction  of  the  constitu- 
tion forbids  the  general  assembly  to  pay,  or  to  assume 
the  pay,  or  to  become  responsible  for  the  debts  or  liabili- 
ties of,  or  in  any  manner  give,  loan  or  extend  its  credit 
to  or  in  aid  of  any  public  or  other  corporation  or  indi- 
vidual whatever.  (Section  20,  Article  10,  State  Consti- 
tution.) 

"This  provision  of  the  constitution  was  adopted  for 
reasons  well  understood,  and  but  few  will  doubt  its  pol- 
icy or  wisdom,  and  no  one  will,  I  apprehend,  be  willing 
to  relax  its  stringency  or  narrow  its  interpretations  by 
constructions  however  ingenious  or  plausible. 

"It  has  been  proposed  to  give  immediate  aid  to  the 
city  of  Chicago  by  discharging  the  lien  of  the  city  upon 
the  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal,  authorized  to  be  created 
by  the  act  approved  February  16, 1865,  and  it  is  claimed 
that,  if  the  state  should  now  refund  to  the  city  the 
amount  of  money  secured  upon  the  revenues  of  the 
canal,  with  the  interest  thereon,  which  would  be,  in 
round  numbers,  about  three  million  dollars,  the  city 
would  be  enabled  to  rebuild  its  bridges  and  public  struc- 
tures, remove  the  obstructions  from  and  repair  its  streets, 
pay  the  expenses  of  its  government  and  other  expenses 
23 


354  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

of  its  own  organizations,  and  discharge  its  general  duties 
to  the  state. 

"I  am  not  prepared  to  express  an  opinion  upon  the 
question,  whether  even  that  sum  of  money  would  be 
sufficient  to  supply  all  the  essential  wants  of  the  city, 
but  my  impressions  incline  me  to  admit  that  it  would  ; 
and  I  am  prepared  to  say  that  while  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  influenced  alone  by  my  views  of  the 
proper  policy  to  be  pursued  by  the  state,  I  would  not 
advise  the  acceptance  of  the  option  secured  to  the  state 
in  the  fifth  section  of  the  act  of  1865,  to  refund  to  the 
city  the  sum  of  two  million  and  a  half  of  dollars,  with 
interest  thereon,  under  present  circumstances,  if  the 
money  can  be  raised  by  any  satisfactory  means  for  the 
purpose,  it  seems  to  me  proper  that  it  should  be  done. 

"The  county  of  Cook  alone  has  heretofore  contained 
nearly  one-sixth  of  the  taxable  property  of  the  state,  and 
a  proportion  of  this,  which  falls  very  little  short  of  the 
whole,  was  situated  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  Now,  nearly 
one-half  of  the  productive  property  of  the  city  is  de- 
stroyed and  its  present  resources  are  crippled,  but  the 
day  is  not  distant  when  its  walls  will  be  rebuilt,  its 
wealth  and  population  not  only  restored,  but  increased, 
and,  instead  of  requiring  aid  from  the  treasury  of  the 
state,  it  will  be  again  its  chief  resource  ;  and  money  now 
appropriated  to  meet  its  necessities  will  be  'bread  cast 
upon  the  waters,'  to  be  gathered  again  after  not  many 
days."  .  .  .  After  a  long  discussion  of  the  methods 
of  raising  money  for  the  relief  of  Chicago  and  Cook 
county,  the  message  concluded  by  saying:  "Invoking 
your  sympathies  for  that  portion  of  our  people  who  have 
suffered  such  unexampled  losses,  I  can  only  express  my 
most  earnest  desire  to  co-operate  with  you  in  any  proper 
plan  that  may  be  devised  for  their  relief." 

On  October  19,  1871,  the  general  assembly  passed  a 
bill  appropriating  the  sum  of  two  million,  nine  hundred 
and  fifty-five  thousand,  three  hundred  and  forty  dollars 
($2,945,340.00),  with  interest  thereon  until  paid,  which 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  355 

was  approved  by  the  governor  on  the  20th  day  of  the 
same  month. 

The  bill  created  a  fund  to  be  known  as  the  "Canal 
Redemption  Fund,"  and  made  a  further  provision,  "that 
not  less  than  one-fifth,  nor  more  than  one-third,  of  the 
money  so  appropriated  shall  be  applied  to  reconstruct 
the  bridges  and  public  buildings  and  structures  upon  the 
original  site,  as  already  provided  by  the  common  coun- 
cil, and  the  remainder  thereof  to  be  applied  to  the  pay- 
ment of  the  interest  on  the  bonded  debt  of  such  city 
and  the  maintenance  of  the  fire  and  police  departments 
thereof."  It  was  passed  with  the  emergency  clause, 
and  took  effect  from  and  after  its  passage. 

The  legislature  met  in  formal  session  on  November  15, 
1871,  when  I  transmitted  to  that  body  a  message,  in 
writing,  containing  certain  suggestions,  and  announced 
the  appointment  of  Gustavus  Koerner,  of  St.  Glair 
county;  Richard  P.  Morgan,  Jr.,  of  McLean  county; 
and  David  S.  Hammond,  of  Cook  county,  as  railroad 
and  warehouse  commissioners,  and  said  :  "In  my  selec- 
tion of  these  gentlemen,  I  was  influenced  by  a  desire  to 
combine  in  the  board  the  requisite  experience  drawn 
from  different  pursuits  and  from  different  portions  of  the 
state."  I  added,  "I  have  also  the  honor  to  submit  to  the 
general  assembly,  and  through  that  department  to  the 
people  of  the  state,  a  series  of  papers,  that  present  the 
leading  facts  of  transactions  that  are  without  example 
in  the  history  of  this  or  any  other  of  the  states." 

On  October  11,  1871,  Lieutenant-General  Philip  H. 
Sheridan,  of  the  United  States  Army,  whose  headquar- 
ters as  commander  of  .the  Military  Division  of  Missouri 
were  in  Chicago,  under  authority  that  he  claims  was  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  the  proclamation  of  the  mayor  of 
the  city,  ordered  several  companies  of  the  regular  army 
of  the  United  States  into  Chicago,  and  as  lieutenant- 
general  issued  to  Frank  T.  Sherman,  a  private  citizen  of 
this  state,  the  following  order  : 


356  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"HDQRS.  OP  THE  MIL.  Div.  OF  THE  MISSOURI, 

"CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS,  Oct.  11,  1871. 
"GENERAL  F.  T.  SHERMAN:  Dear  Sir — With  the  ap- 
probation of  the  mayor  of  this  city,  Lieutenant-General 
Sheridan  directs  that  you  organize  a  regiment  of  infantry, 
to  consist  of  one  (1)  first  and  (1)  second  lieutenants,  and 
sixty  (60)  enlisted  men,  to  serve  as  guards  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  remaining  portion  of  the  city  of  Chicago, 
for  the  period  of  twenty  days. 

"Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"JAMES  B.  FRY,  Asst.  Adj't-Gen." 

This  regiment  was  partly  composed  of  companies  of 
the  state  militia,  ordered  by  Lieutenant-General  Sheri- 
dan, or  some  of  his  subordinates,  to  report  to  him,  or 
them,  and  recruits  enlisted  under  their  authority.  An 
extract  from  the  order  of  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan 
mustering  these  troops  out,  will  show  its  organization  : 

''HDQRS.  OF  MIL.  Div.  OF  THE  Mo.,  Oct.  ®4>  1871,  No.  5. 
"The  1st  Regiment  of  Chicago  Volunteers,  raised  with 
the  approbation  of  the  mayor,  and  in  pursuance  of  or- 
ders dated  October  11,  '71,  from  these  headquarters,  is 
hereby  honorably  mustered  out  of  service,  and  dis- 
charged." 

The  discharge  includes  some  eighteen  organizations, 
and  many  organizations  were  composed  of  the  militia. 
The  oath  taken  by  these  troops  was  as  follows : 

"We,  the  undersigned,  do  severally  swear  that  we 
will  bear  true  faith  and  allegiance  to  the  United  States 
of  America,  and  we  will  honestly  and  faithfully  obey  the 
orders  of  the  officers  appointed  over  us,  and  that  we  will 
use  our  best  efforts  for  the  protection  of  property  and 
preservation  of  order  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  for  the  pe- 
riod of  twenty  days." 

Supported  by  this  force,  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan 
proceeded  to  establish  military  rule  throughout  the  city. 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  357 

His  guards  were  established,  and  his  sentinels  posted  on 
the  public  streets,  with  orders  from  him,  or  some  of  his 
subordinates,  to  arrest  citizens  who  might,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  such  guards  and  sentinels,  be  suspicious  persons, 
and  to  fire  upon  and  wound  any  person  who  should  re- 
fuse to  obey  their  commands.  And  one  citizen  of  the 
city,  who  was  quietly  passing  along  one  of  the  streets, 
was  ordered  by  a  sentinel  to  halt,  and  upon  his  refusal 
to  obey,  was  shot  and  mortally  wounded.  It  was  not 
thought  by  Mayor  Mason  or  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan 
to  be  necessary  or  proper  to  consult  with  or  even  inform 
me  of  their  purpose  to  transfer  the  duty  of  protecting  the 
lives  and  property  of  the  people  of  Chicago,  of  the  sub- 
stantial government  of  the  city,  to  the  military  forces  of 
the  United  States,  although  I  was  in  telegraphic  com- 
munication with  the  mayor,  as  will  appear  by  several 
dispatches,  which  will  be  hereafter  mentioned,  nor  did 
either  of  them  when  we  met  on  October  12th,  and  dis- 
cussed the  affairs  of  the  city  at  some  length,  inform  me 
that  they  had  determined  that  the  government  of  the 
state  was  no  longer  equal  to  its  duties,  or  that  the  mayor 
had  determined,  as  he  had  elsewhere  said,  to  avail  him- 
self "of  the  strong  arm  of  the  military  power  of  the 
United  States." 

Whether  they  supposed  that  to  be  a  matter  about 
which  neither  I  nor  the  legislature,  which  was  convened 
to  meet  here  on  the  next  day  to  legislate  for  Chicago, 
had  the  least  concern,  or  that  the  assent  of  the  legis- 
lature and  the  governor  might  be  safely  presumed,  I 
am  not  prepared  to  say,  but  they  left  me  to  make  the 
discovery  as  others  did,  so  that  I  received  no  informa- 
tion of  the  existence  of  the  proclamation  of  the  mayor, 
or  of  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan,  of  his  powers  under 
it,  until  October  17th,  and  only  heard  of  the  regi- 
ment raised  under  the  orders  of  Lieutenant-General 
Sheridan  at  a  later  day,  and  from  an  application  by  a 
person  who  claimed  to  command  one  of  its  companies 
to  be  supplied  with  arms. 


358  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

It  may  be  imagined  that  the  information  of  these  ex- 
traordinary acts  of  the  mayor  and  the  lieutenant-general 
filled  me  with  surprise,  for  I  was  conscious  that  I  had 
put  forth  every  effort  and  employed  all  my  official  power 
to  aid  the  people  of  Chicago  and  preserve  the  peace  and 
tranquillity.  On  Monday,  October  9th,  at  noon,  when  I 
understood  the  fire  still  to  be  raging  (and  anticipating 
the  probable  necessity  of  official  action  that  could  best 
be  done  at  the  capitol) ,  I  had  dispatched  General  Har- 
lan,  my  secretary  (in  whose  energy  and  prudence  I  have 
the  highest  confidence) ,  to  Chicago,  with  instructions  to 
report  to  the  mayor  and  inform  him  that  all  the  re- 
sources of  the  state  that  were  subject  to  my  legal 
control  were  at  his  service  for  the  protection  of  the 
people. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  if  I  had  been  jealous  of  my 
authority  or  eager  to  find  occasion  for  controversy,  there 
was  enough  in  the  dispatches  of  Colonel  Dilger  and 
Lieutenant-General  Sheridan  to  arouse  my  suspicions, 
but  it  did  not  occur  to  me  until  October  17th,  when  I 
received  the  first  distinct  knowledge  of  the  mayor's 
proclamation  and  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan's  con- 
struction of  his  powers — that  he  claimed  the  right  as 
military  officer  of  the  United  States  to  command  the 
militia  sent  by  me  to  the  city,  and  the  authority  to  en- 
force a  military  police  therein. 

.  .  .  On  October  17th,  I  first  heard  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  mayor's  proclamation,  and  on  the  19th,  I 
addressed  him  the  following  dispatch  : 

"SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.,  October  19,  1871. 
"HoN.  R.  B.  MASON,  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS — What  addi- 
tion to  your  police  force  is  necessary  to  enable  you  to 
dispense  with  the  United  States  troops? 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

To  which  I  received  the  following  answer : 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  359 

"HoN.  JOHN  M.  PALMER — I  do  not  think  any  addi- 
tional force  will  be  necessary  after  the  lapse  of  ten  or 
fifteen  days.  R.  B.  MASON." 

On  October  20th,  I  addressed  the  mayor  the  follow- 
ing letter : 

"STATE  OP  ILLINOIS,  EXECUTIVE  DEP'T. 
"SPRINGFIELD,  October  20,  1871. 

"HoN.  R.  B.  MASON,  May  or  of  Chicago  :  Sir — The  gen- 
eral assembly  has  now  by  ample  appropriations  provided 
for  the  support  of  a  police  force  in  Chicago  that  will  be 
adequate  to  the  protection  of  persons  and  property  in 
the  city,  and  I  trust  that  no  time  will  be  lost  in  making 
all  needful  preparations  for  relieving  the  military  force 
now  on  duty  under  the  orders  of  Lieutenant-General 
Sheridan.  It  excited  the  greatest  surprise,  and  has  oc- 
casioned me  the  profoundest  mortification  that  you  failed 
to  inform  me,  as  you  could  easily  have  done  by  tele- 
graph or  through  my  private  secretary,  who  reached  Chi- 
cago on  October  9th,  of  the  necessity,  in  your  judgment, 
for  the  employment  of  military  forces  for  the  protection 
of  the  city,  and  it  has  pained  me  quite  as  deeply  that 
you  should  have  thought  it  proper  without  consulta- 
tion with  me  by  telegraph  or  otherwise  to  have  prac- 
tically abdicated  your  functions  as  mayor. 

"Happily,  there  is  no  necessity,  either  real  or  im- 
aginary, for  the  longer  continuance  of  this  anomalous 
state  of  things. 

"The  United  States  troops  are  now  there  in  violation 
of  law.  Every  act  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the 
United  States  army  that  operates  to  restrain  or  control 
the  people  is  illegal,  and  their  presence  in  the  city  (ex- 
cept for  purposes  of  the  United  States)  ought  to  be  no 
longer  continued. 

"It  is  due  to  you  that  I  should  confess  that  under 
the  trying  circumstances  that  surrounded  you  on  the  oc- 
casion of  the  late  disaster,  it  was  natural  that  you  should 
be  inclined  to  accept  aid  from  any  quarter  to  enable  you 


360  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

to  afford  protection  to  persons  and  property  in  your  city, 
but  I  regret  that  it  did  not  occur  to  you  that  your  own 
powers  under  the  laws  were  adequate  to  meet  the  emer- 
gencies, and  that  you  were  entitled  upon  notice  to  me  to 
the  support  of  the  whole  power  of  the  state.  From  in- 
formation that  I  have  not  been  afforded  an  opportunity 
to  acquire  officially,  I  have  learned  that  Lieutenant- 
General  Sheridan  has  rendered  valuable  services,  for 
which  he  deserves  the  thanks  of  the  people  of  Illinois ; 
but  it  would  have  been  more  satisfactory  to  them  if  he 
as  a  citizen,  had  given  you  the  assistance  of  his  eminent 
abilities  to  organize  the  people  to  act  in  conjunction 
with  the  civil  officers  for  their  own  protection.  That 
course  would  have  been  far  preferable  to  that  of  con- 
centrating a  part  of  the  army  of  the  United  States  in 
Chicago,  and  the  assumption  by  him  of  the  substantial 
military  control  of  the  city.  I  hope  you  will  at  once  in- 
form Lieutenant-General  Sheridan  of  your  readiness  to 
resume  the  complete  government  of  the  city. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  sir, 
"Your  obdt.  servant,         JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

In  answer  to  this  letter,  I  received  the  following : 

"MAYOR'S  OFFICE,  CITY  OF  CHICAGO,  Oct.  21,  1871. 

"To  His  EXCELLENCY,  JOHN  M.  PALMER — Your  letter 
of  the  18th  inst.  (20th  true  date)  has  been  received. 
Had  your  excellency,  when  in  Chicago  on  the  llth  and 
12th  of  this  month,  informed  me  or  Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral  Sheridan  of  your  disapprobation  of  the  course  that 
I  had  thought  proper  to  pursue  in  having  on  the  (10th 
or  llth  is  the  true  date)  solicited  his  aid  in  preserving 
the  peace  and  order  in  the  city,  and  protecting  the  lives 
and  property  of  its  inhabitants,  satisfactory  reasons 
could  have  been  given  to  your  excellency  for  so  doing, 
many  of  which  it  would  be  unwise  to  make  public. 

"In  the  performance  of  my  official  duties,  I  believed 
that  the  emergency  required  me  to  take  the  step  that  I 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  361 

did.  I  do  not  believe,  when  the  lives  and  property  of 
the  people,  the  peace  and  good  order  of  a  large  city,  are 
in  danger,  that  it  is  the  time  to  stop  and  consider  any 
question  of  policy,  but  if  the  United  States,  by  the  strong 
arm  of  its  military,  can  give  the  instantly-required  pro- 
tection to  life,  property  and  order,  it  is  the  duty  of  those 
in  power  to  avail  themselves  of  such  assistance. 

"Before  the  receipt  of  your  communication,  I  had  al- 
ready, upon  consultation  with  other  city  officers,  decided 
to  dispense  with  military  aid  in  a  day  or  two,  and  I  am 
happy  to  inform  your  excellency  that  on  Monday,  the 
23d  inst.,  your  excellency  will  be  relieved  of  all  anxiety 
on  account  of  the  military  in  protecting  the  lives  and 
property  of  this  people. 

"Very  respectfully,  R.  B.  MASON,  Mayor." 

On  October  22d,  I  first  heard  of  the  death  of  Thomas 
W.  Grosvenor,  and  determined  that  the  affair  should  be 
investigated,  and  on  Monday,  October  23d,  in  company 
with  Colonel  H.  Dilger,  the  adjutant-general,  I  visited 
Chicago  to  ascertain  the  facts. 

I  found  the  facts  of  the  case  to  be  very  much  as  re- 
ported. Theodore  N.  Treat  was  a  student  at  the  Chi- 
cago University,  and  when  the  students  were  called  out 
by  Colonel  Francis  T.  Sherman,  to  constitute  a  part  of 
the  regiment  he  was  authorized  to  raise  under  the  order 
issued  by  General  Sheridan,  Mr.  Treat  was  included  as 
a  member  of  Company  L,  of  the  University  Cadets.  He 
was  posted  as  a  sentinel  about  three  miles  from  the  line 
of  fire,  and  when  Colonel  Grosvenor  was  challenged 
by  the  sentinel,  he  disregarded  the  challenge,  was  fired 
upon  by  Treat,  and  mortally  wounded,  and  died  a  few 
hours  afterwards. 

In  an  official  letter  to  the  attorney-general,  and  the 
state's  attorney  of  Cook  county,  I  advised  that  the  facts 
be  laid  before  the  grand  jury,  with  a  view  to  an  in» 
dictment  against  the  parties  contributing  to  the  death 


362  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

of  Colonel  Grosvenor.  I  said  in  my  letter  to  the  attorney- 
general  : 

"It  seems  to  be  certain,  however,  that  immediately 
after  the  order  or  orders  already  mentioned  were  issued, 
Mr.  Sherman  assumed  the  military  rank  of  colonel  of 
the  1st  Regiment  of  Chicago  Volunteers,  issued  his 
own  orders  to  several  officers  of  the  organized  militia  of 
the  state,  calling  them  and  the  members  of  their  re- 
spective commands  into  service  for  the  term  of  twenty 
days,  and  he  also  demanded,  or  accepted  when  tendered, 
the  services  of  the  students  attending  the  Chicago  Uni- 
versity, who  were  in  possession  of  arms  furnished  by  this 
state.  He  organized  the  troops  thus  raised  with  others 
enlisted  specially,  required  them  to  take  an  oath  of  en- 
listment of  which  you  will  be  furnished  a  copy,  and 
gave  to  the  organization  that  included  the  students  of 
the  university  the  designation  of  'Company  L,  First 
Regiment  of  Chicago  Volunteers,'  and  thus  Theodore  N. 
Treat  became  a  member  of  said  company  and  regiment, 
and  subject,  as  he  supposed,  to  the  orders  of  Lieutenant- 
General  Sheridan  and  of  Frank  T.  Sherman  and  of 
others  appointed  to  command  him.  ...  It  does 
not  in  my  judgment  admit  of  question,  that  if  the  orders 
of  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan  authorizing  troops  to  be 
raised,  organized  and  employed  in  the  city  of  Chicago, 
under  the  command  of  officers  appointed  by  himself, 
can  be  supported  upon  any  grounds  afforded  by  the  con- 
stitution or  the  law,  and  that  Theodore  N.  Treat  was  a 
private  soldier  in  any  such  lawful  military  organization, 
and  that  when  he  inflicted  the  wounds  that  occasioned 
the  death  of  Thomas  W.  Grosvenor  he  was  acting  in 
pursuance  of  the  legal  orders  of  his  proper  military 
superiors,  he  as  well  as  his  superiors  are  guiltless  of 
any  legal  offense. 

".  .  .  Nor  can  it  be  material  in  this  aspect  of  the 
case  whether  his  power  to  raise,  organize  and  employ 
troops  under  the  circumstances  is  one  that  pertains  to 
his  office  as  lieutenant-general,  or  that  it  resulted  from 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  363 

the  proclamation  of  the  mayor,  for  if  his  power  is  estab- 
lished by  any  mode,  all  the  legal  consequences  before 
adverted  to  follow,  and  the  killing  of  a  citizen  by  armed 
men  acting  under  his  authority  must  be  regarded  as  the 
necessary  price  of  public  safety. 

"But  if  the  orders  of  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan 
are  without  constitutional  or  legal  warrant,  they  are 
utterly  void  and  afford  no  protection  to  any  person  for 
acts  done  in 'obedience  to  them.  .  .  .  No  one  will 
pretend  that  the  power  to  raise,  organize  and  employ 
troops,  or  to  call  the  organized  militia  of  the  state  into 
service,  pertains  to  the  office  of  lieutenant-general  in  the 
army  of  the  United  States.  Nor  will  it  be  easy  to  find 
defenders  for  the  opinion,  if  it  should  be  expressed,  that 
the  mayor  of  a  city  can  either  exercise  or  impart  such 
power  to  another.  .  .  .  They  assumed  to  suspend 
the  operation  of  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  state, 
and  substitute  in  their  stead  the  law  of  military  force, 
to  be  defined  and  applied  by  themselves.  They,  by  their 
lawless  acts  attacked  and  insulted  the  dignity  and  au- 
thority of  the  state,  and  have,  by  their  dangerous  ex- 
ample, weakened  public  confidence  in  the  constitution 
and  the  laws,  and  in  their  attempts  to  enforce  unsurped 
and  lawless  authority,  they  have  sacrificed  the  life  of  a 
peaceable  citizen.  ...  I  have  to  request  that  you, 
in  conjunction  with  the  state's  attorney  of  the  seventh 
judicial  circuit,  will  bring  all  the  facts  before  the  grand 
jury  of  Cook  county,  in  order  that  all  persons  concerned 
in  unlawful  killing  of  Thomas  W.  Grosvenor  may  be 
brought  to  speedy  trial." 

The  grand  jury  of  Cook  county,  under  the  lead  of  its 
foreman,  Hon.  C.  B.  Farwell,  refused  to  find  a  bill  of 
indictment  against  any  of  the  parties,  and  even  paid  a 
compliment  to  General  Sheridan  for  his  conduct. 

In  order  to  the  completion  of  the  history  of  the  opera- 
tions after  the  "Chicago  fire,"  it  is  now  necessary  to 
mention,  another  phase  of  the  affair.  In  my  message, 


364  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

dated  on  December  9,  1871,  I  submitted  to  the  general 
assembly  the  following  papers  : 

1.  A  copy  of  a  slip  from  the  Chicago  Journal  of  No- 
vember 2,  1871. 

2.  Letter  from  the  governor  of  Illinois  to  the  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  dated  November  3,  1871. 

3.  Answer  to  the  president,  dated  November  9,  1871. 
Copies  of  papers  transmitted  by  the  president  with  his 
letter  of  November  9,  1871. 

I.  Proclamation  of  R.  B.  Mason,  mayor  of  Chicago, 
of  date,  October  11,  1871. 

II.  Order  issued  by  General  Sheridan,  dated  October 
11,  1871. 

III.  Telegraphic    dispatch   from    Lieutenant-General 
Sheridan  to  the  adjutant-general  United   States  army, 
dated  October  11,  1871. 

IV.  Telegraphic,    dispatch    from    Lieutenant-General 
Sheridan  to  the  adjutant-general  of  the  United  States 
army,  dated  October  12,  1871. 

V.  Note   from  R.   B.   Mason,  mayor  of   Chicago,   to 
Lieutenant-General  Sheridan,  dated  October  22,  1871. 

VI.  Note  from  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan  to  R.  B. 
Mason,  mayor,  dated  October  23,  1871. 

VII.  Note  from  R.  B.  Mason,  mayor,  to  Lieutenant- 
General  Sheridan,  dated  October  23,  1871. 

VIII.  Order  of    Lieutenant-General    Sheridan,   dated 
October  21,  1871. 

IX.  Order  of  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan,  dated  Oc- 
tober 24,  1871. 

X.  Report    of    Lieutenant-General    Sheridan  to  the 
adjutant-general    United    States   army,    dated   October 
25,  1871,  with  the  indorsement  of  General  W.  T.  Sher- 
man thereon. 

XI.  Communication  of  Messrs.  Wirt,  Dexter  and  others 
to  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan,  dated  October  28,  1871. 

XII.  Communication  of  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan 
to    the    adjutant-general    United    States    army,   dated 
October  29,  1871. 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  365 

XIII.  Telegraphic  communication   from  General  W. 
T.    Sherman    to    Lieutenant-General    Sherman,    dated 
October  31,  1871. 

XIV.  Military  orders. 

XV.  Letter  from  the  governor  of  Illinois  to  the  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  dated  November  20,  1871. 

XVI.  Letter  from  the  president  of  the  United  States 
to  the  governor  of  Illinois,  dated  November  25,  1871. 

We  give  the  contents  of  the  slip  from  the  Chicago 
Journal. 

"It  is  telegraphed  from  Springfield  that  Governor 
Palmer  is  decidedly  opposed  to  United  States  troops 
being  stationed  at  or  near  Chicago,  and  will  oppose  any 
such  interference  of  his  right  as  commander-in-chief  of  the 
military  of  Illinois.  We  do  not  believe  when  the  gov- 
ernor knows  the  circumstances  he  will  do  any  such 
thing. 

"The  officers  of  the  relief  society,  together  with  a 
large  number  of  our  most  prominent  citizens,  signed  an 
application  to  General  Sheridan  to  station  some  of  the 
troops  under  his  command  at  or  near  Chicago,  to  be 
used  in  case  of  emergency.  The  large  supplies  the 
relief  society  will  have  in  store  during  the  winter  were 
not  deemed  safe,  besides  threatened  strikes  in  some 
quarters  indicated  that  laborers  willing  to  work  might 
not  be  allowed  to  do  so.  General  Sheridan  referred  the 
appeal  of  our  citizens,  with  his  favorable  judgment,  to 
the  secretary  of  war,  who  immediately  ordered  four 
companies  of  the  8th  United  States  Infantry  from  New 
York  to  Chicago,  and  they  will  arrive  to-morrow  morn- 
ing, subject  to  the  call  of  the  authorities  should  the 
necessity  unhappily  arise  for  their  use.  Only  this  and 
nothing  more.  That  the  government  has  the  same 
right  to  establish  a  military  post  near  Chicago  that  it 
has  near  St.  Louis  and  New  York  and  other  cities,  the 
most  sensitive  head  of  the  militia  of  a  state  cannot 
question.  That  the  authorities  can  call  upon  the  gov- 
ernment to  assist  in  preventing  a  threatened  outbreak  or 


366  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

in  putting  one  down  has  been  often  demonstrated,  and 
the  people  of  Chicago  have  a  right  to  the  security  which 
the  presence  of  these  troops  affords  them,  no  one  with  a 
grain  of  sense  will  pretend  to  question." — Chicago  Even- 
ing Journal,  November  #,  1871. 

"No.  2.  EXECUTIVE  DEPARMENT, 

"SPRINGFIELD,  November  3 ^  1871. 
"His  EXCELLENCY  U.  S.  GRANT,  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  U.  S. 

"Sir — I  have  the  honor  to  inclose  you  a  printed  slip 
cut  from  the  'Chicago  Journal,'  a  highly  respectable 
paper  published  in  Chicago,  and  respectfully  ask  your 
attention  to  its  contents. 

"My  apology  for  troubling  your  excellency  with  a 
paper  of  the  character  of  that  inclosed  is  that  it  is 
stated  therein  that  four  companies  of  the  8th  United 
States  Infantry  have  been  ordered  from  New  York  to 
Chicago  and  will  arrive  there  to-morrow  (to-day)  sub- 
ject to  the  call  of  the  authorities,  and  that  the  reasons 
for  ordering  troops  to  Chicago  are,  that  the  large  supplies 
the  relief  society  will  have  in  store  during  the  winter 
were  not  deemed  safe,  besides  threatened  strikes  in  some 
quarters  indicated  that  laborers  willing  to  work  might 
not  be  allowed  to  do  so,  and  that  an  application  stating 
these  facts  was  signed  by  the  officers  of  the  relief  society 
and  other  citizens,  presented  to  General  Sheridan,  and 
by  him  approved,  and  referred  to  the  secretary  of  war. 

"In  addition  to  this,  rumors  in  the  form  of  telegraphic 
dispatches  from  Washington  and  Chicago  have  reached 
me  that  troops  were  ordered  to  Chicago  for  purposes 
connected  with  the  safety  of  property  and  the  preserva- 
tion of  order  in  the  city,  but  no  information  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  dangers  alluded  to  have  reached  me  from 
any  quarters  whatever. 

"I  cheerfully  concede  that  it  is  for  the  president  to 
designate  the  stations  of  the  troops  composing  the  army, 
and  that  he  is  under  no  obligations  founded  upon  the 
constitution  or  the  laws,  or  upon  the  rules  of  official 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  367 

courtesy,  to  communicate  his  orders  or  the  reasons  that 
influenced  him  in  making  them  to  the  governors  of  any 
of  the  states,  unless  the  orders  in  question  or  the  presence 
of  the  troops  are  intended  in  some  way  to  affect  or  in- 
fluence the  internal  affairs  of  the  particular  state  to 
which  the  troops  are  sent. 

"In  the  latter  case,  it  will  readily  occur  to  you  that 
the  governor  of  the  state,  whose  duty  it  is  to  enforce 
the  laws,  is  deeply  concerned  for  the  troops,  and  the  or- 
ders under  which  they  are  to  act  may  operate  to  dimin- 
ish or  greatly  increase  the  difficulties  of  his  official  posi- 
tion. I  am  happy  in  the  consciousness  that  the  au- 
thorities of  the  State  of  Illinois  are  abundantly  able  to 
protect  every  interest  of  the  people  that  depends  upon 
its  internal  peace  and  good  order,  and  am  unwilling  to 
believe  that  the  president  of  the  United  States,  act- 
ing upon  information  of  a  contrary  character  communi- 
cated by  private  citizens  to  an  officer  of  the  army,  has 
ordered  any  portion  of  the  army  into  this  state  to  be 
subject  to  a  call  of  the  authorities  either  to  protect  the 
store  houses  of  the  relief  committee  or  to  interfere  with 
the  possible,  though  not  probable,  strikes  of  laborers. 

"I  therefore  deem  it  due  to  the  importance  of  the  sub- 
ject frankly  to  inquire  of  your  excellency  whether  the 
troops  ordered  to  Chicago  are  intended  or  instructed  to 
obey  the  call  of  any  authorities  of  the  State  of  Illinois 
or  the  city  of  Chicago,  or  in  any  way  whatever  to  assume 
the  protection,  either  of  property  or  the  preservation  of 
order  in  that  city. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect, 

"JOHN  M.  PALMEK." 

To  which  letter  there  was  the  following  answer  : 

"EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

"November  9,  1871. 

"His  EXCEELLENCY,  JOHN  M.  PALMER,  Governor  of  Illi- 
nois: Sir — I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  third 


868  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

inst.,  inquiring  the  nature  of  the  orders,  etc.,  under 
which  four  companies  of  United  States  troops  have  been 
ordered  to  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  asserting  your 
ability  as  executive  officer  of  the  state  to  furnish  all  the 
protection  asked  in  the  appeal  of  the  citizens  of  Chicago 
for  these  troops. 

"In  reply,  I  enclose  you  a  copy  of  the  appeal,  of  Gen- 
eral Sheridan's  remarks  thereon,  of  the  orders  given  in 
sending  the  troops,  and  of  all  the  correspondence  between 
General  Sheridan  and  the  authorities  here  since  the 
great  fire  which  laid  so  much  of  the  wealth  of  Chicago 
in  ashes. 

"I  will  only  add  further  that  no  thought  here  even 
contemplated  distrust  of  the  state  authorities  of  the 
State  of  Illinois,  or  lack  of  ability  on  their  part  to  do  all 
that  was  necessary,  or  expected  of  them  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  law  and  order  within  the  limits  of  the 
state. 

"The  only  thing  thought  of  was  how  to  benefit  a  peo- 
ple stricken  with  a  calamity  greater  than  had  ever 
before  befallen  a  community  of  the  same  number  in  this 
country. 

"The  aid  was  of  a  like  nature  with  that  given  in  any 
emergency  requiring  immediate  action. 

"No  reflections  were  contemplated  or  thought  of  affect- 
ing the  integrity  or  ability  of  any  state  officer  or  city 
official  within  the  limits  of  the  State  of  Illinois  to  per- 
form his  whole  duty. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect,  your 
obedient  servant,  U.  S.  GRANT." 

PROCLAMATION. 

"The  preservation  of  the  peace  and  good  order  of  the 
city  is  hereby  intrusted  to  Lieutenant-General  P.  H. 
Sheridan,  United  States  Army. 

"The  police  will  act  in  conjunction  with  the  lieuten- 
ant-general in  the  preservation  of  the  peace  and  quiet 
of  the  city,  and  the  superintendent  of  the  police  will 
consult  with  him  to  that  end.  The  intent  hereof  being 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  369 

to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  city  without  interfering  with 
a  function  of  the  city  government. 

"Given  under  my  hand,  this  llth  day  of  October, 
1871.  "R.  B.  MASON,  Mayor." 

No.  4  copied  elsewhere. 

[Telegram.] 

"CHICAGO,  ILLS.,  Oct.  11,  1871. 

"GENERAL  E.  G.  TOWNSEND,  Adjutant-General — There 
was  some  excitement  here  yesterday  and  last  evening, 
but  it  is  now  quieting  down.  Some  of  the  troops  from 
Leavenworth  and  Omaha  are  coming  in.  I  have  taken 
the  necessary  steps  to  meet  the  conditions  of  affairs  here. 
"P.  H.  SHERIDAN,  Lieutenant-General." 

[Telegram.] 

"CHICAGO,  ILLS.,  Oct.  12,  1871. 

"GENERAL  E.  D.  TOWNSEND,  Adjutant-General — As 
there  may  be  some  trouble  there  when  the  banks  have  to 
settle  with  their  depositors,  and  to  keep  down  excite- 
ment, I  have  deemed  it  best  to  ask  General  Halleck  for 
four  (4)  companies  of  infantry  which  he  has  notified  me 
he  has  in  readiness  at  Louisville. 

"P.  H.  SHERIDAN,  Lieutenant-General." 

"CHICAGO,  ILLS.,  Oct.  88,  1871. 

"LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  P.  H.  SHERIDAN,  U.  S.  A. — 
Permit  me  to  tender  you  the  thanks  of  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago and  its  whole  people  for  the  very  efficient  aid  which 
you  have  rendered  in  protecting  the  lives  and  property 
of  the  citizens,  and  in  the  preservation  of  the  general 
peace  and  good  order  of  the  community. 

"I  would  like  your  opinion  as  to  whether  there  is  any 
longer  a  necessity  for  the  continued  aid  of  the  military 
in  that  behalf.  R.  B.  MASON,  Mayor." 

24 


370  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"HEADQUARTERS  MILITARY  Div.  OP  THE  MISSOURI, 
"CHICAGO,  ILLS.,  Oct.  23,  1871. 

"HoN.  R.  B.  MASON,  Mayor — Sir,  I  have  the  honor  to 
acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  kind  note  of  the  date  of 
yesterday,  and  in  reply  beg  leave  to  report  a  good  con- 
dition of  affairs  in  the  city.  If  your  honor  deems  it 
best,  I  will  disband  the  volunteer  organizations  of  mili- 
tary on  duty  since  the  fire,  and  will  send  the  troops  of 
the  regular  army  to  their  homes,  and  will  consider  my- 
self relieved  from  the  responsibility  of  your  proclamation 
of  the  llth  instant. 

"With  my  sincere  thanks  for  your  kindness  and  courtesy 
in  my  intercourse  with  me,  P.  H.  SHERIDAN/' 

"MAYOR'S  OFFICE,  CHICAGO,  Oct.  23,  1871. 

"LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  P.  H.  SHERIDAN,  U.S.  A. — 
Upon  consultation  with  the  board  of  police  commission- 
ers, I  am  satisfied  that  the  continuance  of  the  efficient 
aid  in  the  preservation  of  the  order  in  this  city  which 
has  been  rendered  by  the  forces  under  your  command, 
in  pursuance  of  my  proclamation,  is  no  longer  required. 

"I  will  therefore  fix  the  hour  of  6  p.  M.  of  this  day  as 
the  hour  at  which  the  aid  requested,  shall  cease.  .  .  . 
"I  am,  etc.,  R.  B.  MASON,  Mayor." 

No.  VIII  has  been  described,  and  No.  IX  is  the  order 
for  the  regular  troops  to  return  to  their  stations,  but  No. 
X  is  a  communication  from  General  Sheridan  to  the  ad- 
jutant-general of  the  United  States  army.  It  is  dated 
Chicago,  October  25th,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"The  disorganized  condition  of  affairs  in  this  city, 
produced  by  and  immediately  following  the  late  fire,  in- 
duced the  city  authorities  to  ask  for  assistance  from  the 
military  forces,  as  shown  by  the  mayor's  proclamation 
of  October  11,  1871.  (Copy  herewith  marked  'A.') 

"To  protect  the  public  interests  entrusted  to  me  by 
the  mayor's  proclamation,  I  called  to  this  city  Companies 
A  and  K  of  the  9th  Infantry,  from  Omaha ;  Companies 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  371 

A,  H  and  K  of  the  5th  Infantry,  from  Fort  Leavenworth  ; 
Company  I  of  the  6th  Infantry,  from  Fort  Scott,  and  ac- 
cepted the  kind  offer  of  Major-General  Halleck  to  send 
to  me  Companies  F,  H  and  K  of  the  4th,  and  Company 
E  of  the  16th  Infantry,  from  Kentucky. 

"I  also,  with  the  approbation  of  the  mayor,  called 
into  service  of  the  city  of  Chicago  a  regiment  of  volun- 
teers for  twenty  days.  (A  copy  of  this  call  inclosed  here- 
with marked  *B.')  These  troops,  both  regulars  and 
volunteers,  were  actively  engaged  during  their  service 
here,  in  protecting  the  treasure  in  the  burnt  district, 
guarding  the  unburnt  district  from  disorders  and  dangers 
by  further  fires,  and  in  protecting  the  store-houses, 
depots  and  sub-depots  of  supplies  established  for  the  re- 
lief of  the  sufferers  from  the  fire. 

"These  duties  were  terminated  on  the  23d  inst.,  as 
shown  by  letters  herewith,  marked  C,  D,  E  ;  and  on  the 
24th  inst. ,  the  regulars  started  to  their  respective  sta- 
tions, and  the  volunteers  were  discharged,  as  shown  by 
Special  Orders  No.  76  and  General  Orders  No.  5,  from 
these  headquarters.  .  .  . 

"Very  respectfully,  P.  H.  SHERIDAN." 

This  paper  was  indorsed  as  follows:  "Respectfully 
submitted  to  the  secretary  of  war." 

"The  extraordinary  circumstances  attending  the  great 
fire  in  Chicago  made  it  eminently  proper  that  General 
Sheridan  should  exercise  the  influence,  authority  and 
power  he  did,  on  the  universal  appeal  of  a  ruined 
and  distressed  people,  backed  by  their  civil  agents,  who 
were  powerless  for  good.  The  very  moment  that  the 
civil  authorities  felt  able  to  resume  their  functions,  Gen- 
eral Sheridan  ceased  to  exercise  authority,  and  the  United 
States  troops  returned  to  their  stations. 

"General  Sheridan's  course  is  fully  approved. 

"W.  T.  SHERMAN,  General. 

"Seen  by  the  secretary  of  war. 

"JOSEPH  POTTS,  C.  C.  W.D." 


372  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"CHICAGO  RELIEF  AND  AID  SOCIETY,  Oct.  £8,  1871. 
"LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  P.  H.  SHERIDAN  :  General  —  The 
undersigned  respectfully  and  urgently  request  that  you 
will  cause  four  companies  of  United  States  infantry  to 
be  stationed  at  or  near  this  city  until  it  shall  appear  that 
there  is  no  danger  of  attack  by  disorderly  persons  upon 
the  depots  of  the  Relief  and  Aid  Society,  or  other  riotous 
proceedings  for  which  the  recent  appalling  calamity  may 
have  paved  the  way.  We  believe  that  the  presence  of  a 
small  military  force  in  this  vicinity  would  at  the  same 
time  deter  any  evil  disposed  persons  from  organizing  a 
breach  of  the  peace,  and  reassure  the  public  mind  to  an 
extraordinary  degree. 

We  are,  general,  your  obt.  servts., 

"WiRT  DEXTER,  Chmn.  Exec.  Com.  Ref.  and  A.  So. 

"JOSEPH  MEDILL,  Editor  Tribune. 

"W.  F.  COOLBAUGH,  Prest.  of  the  Union  Nat.  Bk. 

"H.  K.  EAMES,  Prest.  Commercial  National  Bank. 

"F.  IRVING  PEARCE,  Prest.  of  Michigan  Nat.  Bank. 

"C.  H.  BECKWITH  &  SONS,  140  Michigan  avenue. 

"J.  W.  PRESTON,  Prest.  of  Chi.  Board  of  Trade. 

"CHARLES  RANDOLPH,  Sec.  of  Chi.  Board  of  Trade. 

"E.  HENGERLAND,  Illinois  River  Elevator. 

"HORACE  WHITE,  Chicago  Tribune. 

"CHARLES  L.  WILSON,  Chicago  Journal." 


.  MIL.  Div.  OF  THE  Mo.,  CHI.,  Oct.  29,1871. 
"BRIGADIER-GENERAL  E.  D.  TOWNSEND,  Adjt.-Gen.  —  Al- 
most before  the  great  conflagration  in  this  city  had  ex- 
hausted itself,  I  saw  the  necessity  for  having  a  few  com- 
paniesof  regular  troops  here  for  the  preservation  of  the 
public  peace  and  the  protection  of  property  and  treas- 
ure.  Their  services  were  invaluable,  but  as  soon  as  the 
excitement  subsided,  the  old  city  government  desired  to 
again  take  charge,  and  of  course  I  sent  the  troops  home, 
although  it  had  been  my  intention  to  keep  four  compa- 
nies here  during  the  winter. 

"The  result  has  been,  that  the  troops  were  no  sooner 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  373 

gone  than  the  turbulent  spirit  commenced  to  manifest 
itself,  and  seems  to  be  increasing.  I  have,  therefore, 
been  solicited  by  Mr.  Joseph  Medill,  the  incoming  new 
mayor,  and  other  prominent  citizens,  to  again  bring  to 
the  city  for  the  winter  four  companies  of  infantry. 

"I  am  satisfied  of  the  necessity  of  their  presence  here, 
and  ask  the  authority  of  the  secretary  of  war  to  bring 
them.  Please  answer  by  telegram. 

"Your  obt.  servant,     P.  H.  SHERIDAN,  Lieut-Gen." 

[Telegram.] 

"HDQRS.  OP  THE  ARMY,  WASHINGTON,  Oct.  31, 1871. 
"GENERAL?.  H.  SHERIDAN,  CHICAGO — Four  companies 
of  the   8th  Infantry  are  ordered   to  Chicago  to  act  as 
police   under  your   letter  of   the    29th  inst. 

"W.  T.  SHERMAN,  General." 

[Telegram.] 

"GENERAL  GEORGE  C.  MEAD,  PHILADELPHIA — Order 
four  companies  of  8th  Infantry  with  field  officer  to 
Chicago  to  report  to  General  Sheridan  in  person. 

"W.  T.  SHERMAN,  General." 

The  order,  "Special  Order  No.  63,"  is  omitted — and 
I  here  copy  my  letter  of  November  20th  to  the  president 
of  the  United  States  : 

"Sir — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
your  letter  of  the  9th  of  November,  in  reply  to  mine  of 
the  third  of  the  same  month,  also  copies  of  papers  for 
warded  to  me  by  your  direction. 

"I  have  read  your  excellency's  letter  and  examined 
the  papers  received  with  great  attention,  and  while  I  am 
not  insensible  of  the  kindness  which  prompts  you  to  dis- 
claim all  distrust  of  the  authorities  of  the  State  of  Illi- 
nois, or  of  their  ability  to  do  all  that  may  be  necessary 
or  expected  of  them  for  the  maintenance  of  law  and 
order  within  the  limits  of  the  state,  I  have  been  unable 
to  find  anything  in  them  to  justify  the  extraordinary 


374  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

measure  of  ordering  four  companies  of  United  States 
troops  into  this  state  to  report  to  Lieutenant-General 
Sheridan  to  act  as  police  under  his  orders. 

"It  seems  to  me  to  be  very  well  settled,  as  a  principle  of 
American  public  law,  that  the  duty  of  protecting  persons 
and  property  and  the  preservation  of  public  order  and 
peace  against  the  efforts  of  disorderly  persons,  or  from 
local  internal  disturbance,  is  the  peculiar  and  exclusive 
duty  of  the  states  with  which  the  government  of  the  United 
States  has  no  concern,  and  in  which  it  cannot  interfere  ex- 
cept upon  the  application  of  the  legislature  or  the  executive 
of  the  state,  as  contemplated  by  the  fourth  section  of 
the  fourth  article  of  the  constitution,  and  any  attempt 
by  the  officers  of  the  United  States  to  employ  any  part 
of  the  military  forces,  as  proposed  by  the  gentlemen  who 
made  the  application,  for  four  companies  of  infantry  to 
be  stationed  at  or  near  Chicago  for  an  indefinite  period, 
and  approved  by  Lieutenant-General  Philip  H.  Sheridan 
in  his  letter  to  the  adjutant-general  of  the  29th  of 
October,  and  by  General  W.  T.  Sherman  by  his  tele- 
graphic communication  to  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan 
of  October  31,  1871,  must  be  improper  because  violative 
of  the  constitution  and  the  laws.  I  am  not  at  all  forget- 
ful that  your  excellency  says  that  'what  was  done  in 
respect  to  ordering  the  troops  to  Chicago  was  upon  the 
ground  of  emergency  to  aid  a  people  who  had  suffered 
greatly;'  but  in  this  view  it  seems  to  me  that  the  gen- 
eral commanding  the  army  overlooked  the  fact  that  the 
disastrous  fire  at  Chicago  did  not  relieve  the  State  of 
Illinois  from  any  of  its  duties,  nor  transfer  any  of  them 
to  the  government  of  the  United  States. 

"Emergencies  that  demand  extraordinary  efforts  often 
occur  in  the  history  of  governments,  but  I  do  not  re- 
member another  instance  in  our  history  when  it  was 
held  that  an  event  that  created  a  sudden  demand  upon 
the  powers  and  resources  of  a  state  operated  to  transfer 
any  portion  of  the  duties  of  the  state  to  the  United 
States. 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  375 

"The  great  fire  at  Chicago  ceased  on  the  9th  of 
October,  and  the  executive  of  the  State  of  Illinois, 
under  the  belief  that  the  disaster  created  an  'emergency, ' 
provided  for  by  the  constitution  of  the  state,  convened 
the  general  assembly  to  meet  in  session  on  the  thirteenth 
day  of  that  month  to  make  legal  provisions  to  meet  all 
the  requirements  of  the  occasion,  and  on  the  19th  day 
of  October  that  department  appropriated  from  the 
treasury  an  adequate  sum  to  maintain  a  sufficient  police 
force  for  the  protection  of  every  interest  of  the  people. 
The  emergency  was  thus  provided  for  by  the  proper 
department  of  the  proper  government.  The  state  en- 
larged and  strengthened  its  own  agencies  for  the  en- 
forcement of  its  own  laws  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  new  situation.  The  same  calamity  deprived  the 
United  States  of  its  custom  house,  its  post-office,  its 
court  room  and  records,  and  threw  upon  that  govern- 
ment the  duty  of  adopting  measures  to  supply  the  loss  ; 
but  it  has  not  occurred  to  the  authorities  of  the  state 
that  the  losses  of  the  United  States  or  the  interruption 
of  its  business  has  so  far  changed  the  relation  of  the 
federal  and  state  system  as  to  cast  any  portion  of  pro- 
viding for  any  of  the  wants  of  the  United  States  upon 
the  State  of  Illinois,  and  they  are  as  little  able  to  under- 
stand how  it  is  that  events  that  cannot  operate  to  enlarge 
the  powers  of  the  government  of  the  state  should  operate 
to  confer  upon  a  lieutenant-general  of  the  army  the  au- 
thority to  interfere  in  matters  of  purely  state  concern, 
or  to  authorize  the  general  commanding  the  army  to 
recognize  and  approve  the  lieutenant-general,  and  or- 
der four  companies  of  the  United  States  troops  to  report 
to  him  to  discharge  the  mere  duties  of  police. 

"I  do  not,  of  course,  propose  to  discuss  with  your 
excellency  the  question  of  the  relative  rights  and  powers 
of  the  United  States  and  of  the  states  under  the  consti- 
tution, for  I  will  not  anticipate  the  possibility  of  a  dif- 
ference of  opinion  upon  the  point  that  the  duties  of  the 
executive  officers  of  the  two  systems  are  defined  so  ac- 


376  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

curately  and  are  kept  so  distinct  by  written  constitutions 
and  laws  that  there  is  no  possibility  of  a  conflict  between 
them . 

"The  duty  of  the  president  is  to  see  that  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  are  enforced,  and  that  of  the  governor 
of  Illinois  is  confined  to  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  of 
the  state.  Neither  obstructs  the  other,  nor  aids  nor  in- 
terferes with  his  duties.  The  governor  of  the  state  de- 
rives none  of  his  powers  from  the  United  States,  nor  are 
his  duties  subject  in  any  respect  to  the  consent  or  dis- 
cretion of  the  president,  who  can,  in  no  wise,  enlarge, 
abridge  or  interrupt  them  by  either  assuming  them  him- 
self or  by  entrusting  them  to  others. 

"As  these  opinions  seem  to  me  to  be  incontrovertible, 
I  cannot  doubt  that  the  orders  of  the  United  States 
troops  to  act  as  police  or  to  otherwise  interfere  in  the 
affairs  or  duties  of  the  state  or  any  of  its  officers  were 
made  without  reflection,  and  that  the  troops  will  be  at 
once  withdrawn  from  this  state,  or  that  the  orders  from 
their  government  will  be  so  modified  as  to  prohibit  their 
employment  -as  police  or  in  any  other  way  interfere  with 
any  of  the  duties  or  functions  of  any  of  the  officers 
created  under  the  laws  of  this  state. 

"The  State  of  Illinois  cannot  accept  their  aid  or  per- 
mit their  interference  in  its  affairs  without  a  sacrifice  of 
the  confidence  of  its  citizens,  nor  without  giving  coun- 
tenance to  a  dangerous  example. 

"Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

General  Grant  replied  on  November  25th,  as  follows  : 

"Sir — I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  20th  inst., 
and  have  referred  it  to  the  secretary  of  war,  with  di- 
rections to  inform  General  Sheridan  that  if  the  troops 
under  his  command  have  received  any  orders  which  in 
any  way  conflict  with  the  provisions  of  the  constitution 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE.  377 

or  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  he  is  instructed  to 
rescind  them. 

"Very  respectfully  yours,  U.  S.  GRANT. 

"To  His  EXCELLENCY,   JOHN  M.   PALMER,  Governor  of 
Illinois,  Springfield)  Illinois.'1'' 

My  expectation  of  future  exemption  from  military  in- 
terference was  based  upon  the  belief  that  the  authorities 
of  the  state  had  already  done  enough  for  the  main- 
tenance of  law  and  for  the  protection  of  all  the  interests 
of  the  people  of  Chicago  to  merit  their  full  confidence, 
and  that  the  local  officers  were  then  so  alive  to  their 
duties  and  so  confident  in  the  support  of  a  powerful 
state  that  no  room  would  be  left  for  external  interven- 
tion. Everything,  indeed,  had  been  done  for  the  aid  of 
the  people  of  Chicago  that  was  possible,  and  if  all  were 
not  secure,  it  was  because  the  resources  of  civil  govern- 
ment were  not  equal  to  their  necessities.  .  .  . 

General  Grant,  General  Sherman  and  General  Sheri- 
dan are  dead,  and  I  forbear  to  criticise  their  acts.  I 
content  myself  with  furnishing  the  documents  and  papers 
which  give  a  history  of  the  Chicago  fire  and  of  the  con- 
troversies which  it  originated. 


378  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Meeting  of  the  legislature  in  1874 — End  of  my  term  of  office — Provision 
for  education — Defense  of  grand  juries  —  Mobs  —  Newspapers — 
Change  of  venue — Challenge  to  jurors — Pardons — Change  in  crimi- 
nal law  suggested — The  poor — Suggestion  of  an  officer  to  represent 
poor  prisoners — The  railroads. 

On  January  8,  1873,  the  general  assembly  of  the  State 
of  Illinois  convened  in  its  biennial  session.  On  the 
tenth  day  of  the  same  month  the  two  houses,  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  constitution,  met  and  canvassed  the  votes 
cast  at  the  preceding  election  for  state  officers,  and  found 
that  Richard  J.  Oglesby  had  received  for  the  office  of 
governor  237,774 :  Gustavus  Koerner,  197,094 ;  and  B. 
G.  Wright,  2,185  votes. 

Governor  Oglesby  was  on  January  13,  1873,  duly  in- 
augurated, and  upon  that  event  my  connection  with  the 
office  of  governor  ended.  By  the  constitution  of  the 
state  it  is  made  the  duty  of  the  governor,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  each  session,  and  at  the  close  of  his  term 
of  office,  to  give  to  the  general  assembly  information  by 
message  of  the  condition  of  the  state,  and  also  to 
recommend  such  measures  as  he  shall  deem  expedient. 
This  constitutional  duty  I  had  discharged  on  the  day  of 
the  opening  of  the  session,  by  a  message  in  writing.  In 
the  message  I  alluded  to  the  prosperity  and  growth  of 
the  state,  I  said  : 

"In  all  the  material  elements  essential  to  its  future 
growth  and  prosperity,  the  State  of  Illinois  has  nothing 
more  to  desire.  Nor  can  it  be  asserted  that  the  people 
of  the  state  have  been  unmindful  of  their  social  duties, 
for  public  provision  for  the  education  of  all  the  children  of 
the  state  is  already  made,  and  will  hereafter  keep  pace 
with  advancing  public  wants,  while  institutions  intended 
for  the  purposes  of  advanced  education  and  higher 


MESSAGE  TO  LEGISLATURE.  379 

culture  are  increasing  in  number,  and  are  widening 
their  field  of  usefulness,  and  though  our  general  system 
for  the  poor  and  permanently  helpless  classes  is  not 
complete,  nor  yet  entirely  satisfactory  in  its  methods 
or  results,  the  people  of  the  state  have  cheerfully  sub- 
mitted to  all  taxes  imposed  upon  them  for  that  class  of 
objects,  and  have  gone  beyond  their  representatives  in 
demanding  that  nothing  required  by  the  most  enlightened 
humanity  for  the  relief  or  maintenance  of  objects  of  pub- 
lic charity  shall  be  left  undone." 

I  then  added,  that  which  I  repeat  now  with  the  ut- 
most satisfaction  :  "That  notwithstanding  my  extensive 
intercourse  with  the  people  of  this  state  during  my  of- 
ficial term,  I  have  never  heard  from  any  person  a  mur- 
mur against  any  tax  actually  levied  or  proposed  for  the 
benefit  of  the  afflicted  or  helpless.  .  .  ." 

I  also  in  this  message  referred  to  the  prevalence  of 
rao&s,  and  enumerated  instances  of  such  outrages.  I  said  : 
"That  in  every  instance  of  outrage  by  mobs,  I  had  offered 
a  reward  of  one  thousand  dollars  from  the  contingent 
fund  for  the  apprehension  and  conviction  of  the  perpe- 
trators of  such  murders.  I  denounced  the  leaders  of 
mobs,  and  characterized  them  as  cowards,  who,  to  indulge 
private  and  personal  resentments,  organize  and  direct 
the  passions  of  the  people  to  the  commission  of  crimes." 

Then,  as  now,  the  administration  of  the  criminal  laws 
of  the  state  commanded  a  large  share  of  public  attention. 
The  newspapers,  especially  those  published  in  Chicago, 
complained  of  the  failure  of  public  justice,  and  there 
were  public  meetings  which  adopted  resolutions  con- 
demning the  alleged  increase  of  crime  in  the  cities  of  the 
state,  and  especially  in  Chicago. 

After  the  great  fire  in  Chicago  there  was  less  of  crime 
than  there  had  been  before.  I  therefore  said  :  "That  con- 
sidering the  extraordinary  circumstances  of  the  almost 
total  destruction  of  the  city  within  little  more  than  a 
year  past,  and  the  great  influx  of  population  from  every 
quarter  the  laws  are  enforced,  and  order  is  as  well 


380  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

maintained  in  Chicago  as  in  other  great  cities  of  the 
country."  I  also  said:  "It  is  true  some  startling  ex- 
amples of  fraud  in  commercial  circles  have  occurred  in 
Chicago  that  are  in  their  influence,  more  disastrous  to 
the  morals,  the  business  and  the  character  of  the  people 
of  the  state  than  is  the  aggregate  effect  of  many  minor 
offenses."  I  added,  "that  the  commercial  frauds  to 
which  I  alluded,  seem  to  be  characteristic  of  the  period." 

There  was  at  that  time  an  extensive  belief  that  crimes 
of  a  homicidal  character  were  increasing  in  frequency, 
and  in  the  eagerness  of  many,  propositions  were  made 
to  reform  the  criminal  laws  of  the  state. 

One  class  of  reformers  proposed  the  abolition  of  grand 
juries,  and  that  state's  attorneys  should  by  information 
accuse  of  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 

Iti  the  second  place,  it  was  proposed  to  take  from 
'persons  charged  with  crime  the  right  to  a  change  of 
venue;  thirdly,  it  was  proposed  to  disallow  challenge  to 
jurors  to  persons  charged  with  crime,  upon  the  ground 
of  an  opinion  formed  from  information  obtained  from 
printed  publications,  or,  as  it  was  urged  by  some,  that 
no  challenge  should  be  allowed  if  the  proposed  juror 
would  swear  that  he  would  try  the  case  fairly,  notwith- 
standing any  opinions  he  had  formed. 

Another  proposition  was  made  to  make  death  the  pen- 
alty in  all  cases  of  conviction  for  murder  ;  and  then  fol- 
lowed the  proposition  to  deprive  the  governor  of  the  power 
to  pardon  offenders  after  conviction.  I  said  in  my  mes- 
sage that  "to  those  who  have  such  confidence  in  mere 
legislation  that  they  assume  every  abuse  may  be  cor- 
rected and  every  evil  repressed  by  laws ;  and  to  that 
other  class,  ignorant  of  the  origin,  history  and  reasons 
of  the  institutions,  rules  and  methods  of  procedure  pro- 
posed to  be  abrogated  or  changed,  and  who  welcome 
every  change  in  the  existing  laws  as  an  improvement, 
all  the  alterations  proposed  will  be  acceptable,  but  others 
will  remember  that  the  grand  jury,  'one  of  the  "insti- 
tutions" of  our  free-spirited  fathers,  and  most  of  the 


MESSAGE  TO  LEGISLATURE.  381 

formal  and  carefully-guarded  rules  of  criminal  procedure 
that  are  now  the  subject  of  complaint  were  devised  to 
protect  the  lives  and  liberties  of  the  people  against  the 
aggressions  and  encroachments  of  power,'  and  others, 
like  that  of  confiding  the  measure  of  punishment  for 
murder  to  the  jury,  are  the  results  of  the  observations 
of  men  of  the  most  profound  knowledge  and  the  largest 
experience  in  the  administration  of  criminal  law. 

"They  are  parts  of  a  judicious  and  well-settled  system, 
not  perfect,  but  that  combines  greater  advantages  for 
the  prompt  administration  of  justice,  with  the  proper 
guards  for  the  rights  of  the  citizens,  than  any  that  ex- 
ists in  any  country,  or  under  any  form  of  government." 

*          •          • 

"In  view  of  the  necessity  that  has  always  been  ad- 
mitted to  exist  for  careful  regulations  for  the  protection^ 
of  individuals,  it  is  painful  to  witness  the  mistaken  zeal 
that  prompts  a  portion  of  the  public  press  and  influential 
public  bodies  to  urge  fundamental  changes,  simply  that 
citizens  may  be  made  more  defenseless  when  pursued  by 
the  authorities  of  the  law  upon  accusations  of  crime. 

"Every  change  in  the  criminal  laws  that  deprives 
parties  accused  of  the  means  for  obtaining  an  impartial 
trial,  or  that  proposes  to  substitute  discretion  of  a  judge 
or  of  a  state's  attorney  for  fixed  and  well-defined  rules  of 
law  or  settled  modes  of  procedure,  is  a  sacrifice  of  the 
safety  of  the  citizen.  Happily,  except  on  occasions 
when  the  public  mind  is  excited  by  appeals  to  popular 
fears  or  prejudice,  the  passions  of  the  American  people 
are  not  cruel,  but  who  is  prepared  to  say  that  when  a  citi- 
zen may  be  put  on  his  trial  upon  a  charge  that  involves 
his  life,  in  the  midst  of  a  community  filled  with  prejudice 
against  him,  without  the  power  to  demand  of  right  the 
removal  of  his  trial  to  an  impartial  vicinage,  with  no 
right  of  continuance  to  await  a  better  state  of  public 
sentiment  or  to  obtain  evidence,  no  challenge  to  his  tri- 
ers upon  the  ground  of  opinions  formed  against  him — 
death,  the  inevitable  consequence  of  conviction,  and  the 


382  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

governor  without  the  power,  even  the  clearest  facts,  to 
avert  the  bloody  sentence,  the  vindictive  prejudice  of 
some  community  may  not  demand  a  victim.  .  .  . 

"The  'institution'  of  grand  and  petit  juries  is  an  es- 
sential part  of  the  judicial  system  of  a  free  state.  The- 
orists, who  can  demonstrate  that  the  rule  of  a  single 
wise  man  is  better  than  that  of  the  multitude,  and  law 
reformers  who  would  substitute  the  discretion  of  a  state's 
attorney  or  a  judge  for  the  deliberations  of  a  grand  jury 
or  fixed  rules  of  procedure,  alike  forget  that  no  method 
of  election  has  yet  been  devised  that  will  insure  the 
choice  of  the  wisest  for  rulers,  state's  attorneys  or  judges, 
nor  do  they  attach  enough  importance  to  the  fact  that 
in  a  republic  no  system  of  laws  can  be  devised  that, 
without  endangering  the  public  liberties,  will  be  effect- 
ive for  the  prevention  and  punishment  of  crimes,  unless 
the  laws  provide  for  the  participation  of  the  people  in 
their  administration,  and  that  neither  public  nor  private 
rights  can  be  secured  when  they  are  in  any  important 
senses  subject  to  the  discretion  of  any  ruler  or  magis- 
trate. .  .  .  It  is  at  once  the  vice  and  weakness  of 
wealthy  and  prosperous  communities  that  a  majority 
of  those  who  should  be  the  most  capable  and  useful  citi- 
zens, from  purely  selfish  reasons,  prefer  to  delegate  the 
discharge  of  their  most  important  public  duties  to  others, 
and  experience  has  demonstrated  that  whether  the  mer- 
cenaries, who  undertake  the  protection  of  the  public  in- 
terests, or  who  by  the  indifference  of  the  people  are  al- 
lowed to  seize  control  of  public  affairs,  are  the  hired 
soldiers  of  a  standing  army  or  the  traders  in  offices,  who 
cajole,  neglect  and  plunder  the  people.  The  result  is 
the  same — the  degradation  of  the  laws,  contempt  for 
public  justice,  in  the  end,  all  the  securities  for  life  and 
liberty  are  destroyed." 

I  further  said  :  "I  have  no  doubt  of  the  right  of  the 
state  to  put  persons  to  death  who,  by  their  own  delib- 
erate, criminal  acts,  make  that  course  necessary  for  the 
public  safety,  nor  do  I  question  the  existence  of  the  right 


MESSAGE  TO  LEGISLATURE.  383 

to  inflict  the  death  penalty  as  a  punishment  for  crime, 
but  I  am  quite  as  decided  in  the  conviction  that  that 
mode  of  punishment  has  but  little  influence  to  deter 
from  the  commission  of  crime,  and  that  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  a  worn-out  vestige  of  barbarism  that  hardens 
and  depraves  the  people.  Deliberate  homicide  by  public 
authority  has  much  greater  influence  to  weaken  respect 
for  human  life  than  the  commission  of  murder  by  law- 
less persons,  and  it  is  remarkable  that  the  ecclesiastical 
bodies,  and  that  portion  of  the  so-called  religious  and 
secular  press  that  demand  the  more  frequent  infliction 
of  death  by  judicial  sentence,  concede  the  whole  point  in 
dispute  when,  impressed  with  the  horrible  and  deprav- 
ing influence  of  public  executions,  they  insist  upon  ex- 
cluding those  from  the  spectacle  who  are  to  be  impressed 
by  the  example.  ...  It  may  also  be  true  that  mon- 
sters of  crime  may  sometimes  be  found  whose  extermina- 
tion is  demanded,  not  to  vindicate  the  authority  of  the 
law,  but  the  dignity  of  human  nature.  It  would  notr 
therefore,  be  judicious  for  the  state  to  renounce  the 
power  to  inflict  death  as  a  punishment  for  crime,  but 
the  propriety  of  the  exercise  of  the  power  in  any  instance 
can  best  be  determined  by  a  jury  drawn  from  the  body 
of  the  people."  I  said:  "The  executive  authority  to 
grant  pardons,  reprieves  and  commutations  is  made  by 
the  constitution  absolute,  and  to  be  exercised  by  him  at 
his  discretion,  and,  like  all  discretionary  powers  confided 
to  public  officers,  is  extremely  liable  to  abuse.  And  yet 
I  refused  to  approve  a  bill  which  created  a  board  of 
pardons,  believing  then,  as  I  do  now,  that  where  the 
constitution  of  the  state  confides  a  power  to  a  particular 
officer,  he  ought  to  exercise  it  without  dividing  his  re- 
sponsibility. I  believe  the  present  board  of  pardons  is 
extra-constitutional,  and  that  the  present  governor  ap- 
proved the  bill  which  created  it  in  order  to  relieve  him- 
self from  his  constitutional  responsibilities." 

In  my  message,  I  said:     "I  have  exercised  the  par- 
doning power  in  proportion  to  the  whole  number  of  con- 


384  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

victions  in  the  state  more  sparingly  than  any  of  my  pre- 
decessors, and  I  am  satisfied  that  I  have  done  so  in  im- 
proper cases.  But  I  have  had  the  satisfaction  of  releas- 
ing persons  from  the  penitentiary  after  they  had  furnished 
me  with  the  most  unquestionable  proof  of  their  inno- 
cence of  the  alleged  crime  of  which  the  jury  had  found 
them  guilty.  I  have  by  pardons  shortened  terms  of  im- 
prisonment that  were  certified  to  me  by  the  judges  and 
juries  imposing  them  to  be  excessive,  and  I  have,  in 
more  than  one  instance,  interfered  for  the  relief  of  the 
poor  and  ignorant  who  were  the  victims  of  the  arts  of 
designing  persons.  .  .  .  We  know  that  the  blind- 
ness of  legal  justice  is  but  a  fable,  and  that  though  the 
laws  in  their  letter  and  spirit  are  just,  humane  and  equal, 
as  a  practical  fact  the  wealthy  and  influential  do  disre- 
gard them  with  a  measure  of  impunity  not  permitted  to 
the  poor  and  friendless. 

"We  know,  too,  that  the  jails,  into  which  those  who 
are  accused  of  the  commission  of  crime  and  are  unable 
to  furnish  bail  are  crowded,  are  moral  pest-houses,  where 
vice  is  taught  to  the  most  innocent  and  the  guilty  made 
more  depraved.  We  know  that  instances  are  not  want- 
ing in  which  jailers  or  their  subordinates  alone,  in  con- 
junction with  some  of  a  class  of  professional  men  who 
'dishonor  law  and  disgrace  the  courts,'  who  tolerate  their 
presence,  have  defrauded  friendless  prisoners  of  all  their 
possessions,  and  have  then  delivered  them  over  to  a  cer- 
tain conviction.  ...  I  have  pardoned  some  of  this 
class  of  unfortunates  upon  the  ground  that  if  the  state 
cannot  protect  them,  it  ought  to  make  them  the  repara- 
tion of  forgiveness."  I  repeat,  that  I  further  said: 
"No  subject  is  more  worthy  of  attention  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  an  enlightened  Christian  people  than  the 
imperfect  progress  made  by  the  laws  of  the  state  for  the 
protection  of  the  poor,  the  ignorant,  the  inexperienced 
and  the  friendless  in  the  criminal  courts.  The  evil  is 
most  apparent  in  the  cities  and  populous  counties  of  the 
state.  Each  year  the  population  of  the  state  is  increased 


MESSAGE  TO  LEGISLATURE.  385 

by  emigrants  from  all  the  nations  of  Europe  and  from  every 
state  of  the  Union,  who  are  of  every  grade  of  character 
and  of  every  degree  of  intelligence .  Of  the  thousands  who 
come  into  the  state,  many  are  ignorant  of  our  language 
and  our  laws,  and  many  are  upon  their  arrival  poor  and 
often  ill,  dispirited  and  inexperienced. 

"In  the  cities  the  missionaries  of  vice  are  ever  active, 
and  its  temples  are  always  open,  and  from  their  doors 
none  are  ever  driven  away ;  to  these  the  inexperienced 
and  unwary  are  tempted,  or  from  want  of  employment 
the  irresolute  are  impelled  to  the  commission  of  crime, 
or  often  they  are  made  the  dupes  and  instruments  of 
those  with  whom  crime  is  a  trade,  or  being  strangers  and 
friendless  they  are  readily  suspected,  and  when  arrested 
they  are  unable  to  find  bail,  and  are  committed  to  jail, 
and  if  indicted  the  judge,  however  humane  and  con- 
siderate, is  compelled  to  entrust  their  defense  to  some 
lawyer  without  standing  or  experience  in  his  profession, 
and  conviction  follows,  for  there  is  no  one  to  demand 
justice  or  implore  mercy. 

"It  is  time  that  the  practice  of  delivering  the  living 
bodies  of  poor  prisoners  to  legal  students  for  professional 
instructions  was  abandoned,  and  I  insist  that  provision 
should  be  made  by  law  for  the  election  or  appointment 
in  the  large  cities  and  populous  counties  of  the  state,  of 
suitable  persons  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  visit  the 
places  where  persons  are  confined  upon  criminal  charges, 
confer  with  and  advise  poor  prisoners,  protect  them  from 
oppression  and  extortion,  attend  examinations,  investi- 
gate charges  against  them,  advise  with  injured  parties 
and  the  courts  and  state's  attorneys  with  a  view  of  the 
dismissal  of  the  prosecutions,  when  the  ends  of  justice 
would  by  that  course  be  promoted,  or  with  reference  to 
the  proper  measure  of  punishment  in  cases  where  the 
punishment  is  discretionary  with  the  judge,  or  in  proper 
cases  alone,  or  in  conjunction  with  the  counsel  assigned 
by  the  court  to  manage  their  defense.  A  proposition  to 
25 


386  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

provide  for  the  appointment  of  an  officer  to  watch  the 
administration  of  the  laws,  from  the  standpoint  of  those 
who  are  accused  of  the  crime,  is  novel,  but  everyone 
familiar  with  the  administration  of  the  criminal  laws  of 
the  state  is  fully  aware  of  the  fact  that  a  truthful  state- 
ment of  all  wrongs  inflicted  upon  persons  charged  with 
offenses,  would  prove  that  many  crimes  have  been  com- 
mitted in  the  name  of  the  law."  It  seemed  to  me  then, 
and  I  have  always  held,  that  an  officer  should  be  ap- 
pointed and  paid,  from  the  public  treasury,  whose  duty 
it  should  be  to  visit  the  jails  or  other  places  where  people 
charged  with  the  commission  of  crimes  are  confined,  and 
confer  with  such  persons,  and  such  conference  should  be 
private,  and  the  officer  appointed  to  visit  and  confer  with 
prisoners  should  not  be  permitted  to  disclose  information 
derived  from  their  admission  or  explanation. 

"At  the  same  time  as  a  quasi  judicial  officer,  he  should 
have  the  right  to  advise  the  judges  and  state's  attorneys 
on  the  point  of  the  guilt  of  poor  prisoners,  and  as  to 
the  measure  of  their  punishment. 

"The  legal  theory  is,  that  the  judges  are  the  counsels 
of  prisoners,  but  they  are  obliged  to  act  through  others. 
It  would  complete  our  system  of  judicial  justice  that  the 
judges  and  state's  attorneys  could  be  provided  with  an 
officer  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  investigate  charges 
against  poor  prisoners,  and  make  such  recommendations 
as  might  appear  to  them  to  be  proper."  I  added  :  "An 
important  exception  to  the  general  disposition  to  obey 
the  laws,  which  prevails  throughout  the  state,  is  found 
in  the  refusal  of  common  carriers  of  passengers  and 
freight  by  railways  to  obey  the  constitutional  and  legal 
enactments  provided  for  the  regulation  of  their  import- 
ant interests,  and  the  people  of  the  state  aware  of  the  re- 
fusal of  this  class  of  persons  to  obey  the  law,  and  of  the 
mischiefs  their  contempt  of  the  authority  of  the  state 
produces,  look  to  the  general  assembly,  and  make  fur- 
ther and  efficient  efforts  to  provide  a  remedy. 

"The  report  of  the  railroad  and  warehouse  commis- 


MESSAGE  TO  LEGISLATURE.  387 

sioners  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  printer,  and  will  be 
laid  down  before  the  general  assembly  as  early  as  possi- 
ble, will  contain  full  information  as  to  the  pretensions  of 
the  railway  managers,  and  of  the  efforts  made  by  the 
commissioners  of  the  authority  of  the  state  over  them. 
Successful  resistance  to  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the 
state  subverts  them.  It  can  make  no  difference  whether 
such  resistance  is  made  by  physical  means  too  powerful 
to  be  overcome,  or  by  combination  of  financial  interests 
that  merely  treat  the  laws  with  contempt  and  refuse  to 
obey  them.  The  effects  of  successful  physical  resistance 
are  immediate  and  easily  perceived,  while  those  pro- 
duced by  persistent  and  contemptuous  disobedience  are 
remote  and  may  not  at  once  appear,  but  they  silently  sap 
and  weaken  the  foundations  of  public  order,  and  in  the 
end  destroy.  The  issue  made  with  the  state  by  the  dis- 
tinct refusal  of  the  managers  of  railways  to  obey  the 
laws  enacted  by  the  general  assembly  for  the  correction 
of  abuses  and  to  prevent  unjust  discriminations  and  ex- 
tortions is  one  of  power.  It  is  not  pretended  that  in 
the  enactment  of  the  laws  disobeyed  the  general  assembly 
transcended  the  authority  vested  in  the  legislature  by 
the  terms  of  the  constitution.  It  is  made  the  duty  of 
the  general  assembly  from  time  to  time  to  pass  laws 
establishing  reasonable  maximum  rates  and  charges  for 
the  transportation  of  passengers  and  freights  on  the 
different  railroads  of  the  state,  and  to  pass  laws  to  cor- 
rect abuses,  and  to  prevent  unjust  discriminations  and 
extortions  in  the  rates  of  freight  and  passenger  tariffs  on 
the  different  railroads  in  the  state  ;  and  by  another  pro- 
vision of  the  constitution  railroads  heretofore  con- 
structed, or  that  may  hereafter  be  constructed,  in  this 
state  are  declared  to  be  public  highways  and  free  to  all 
persons  for  the  transportation  of  their  person  and  prop- 
erty thereon  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law.  .  .  .  But 
it  seems  to  me  that  the  real  causes  of  the  manifold 
abuses,  extortions  and  oppressions  to  which  the  people 
are  subjected  are  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  railroad 


388  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

property  has  passed  under  control  of  combinations  of 
financial  adventurers  who  are  in  nowise  interested  in 
the  proper  management  of  the  road. 

"This  condition  of  the  management  of  railroads  may 
be  accounted  for  by  referring  it  in  part  to  the  great  in- 
crease of  the  speculative  wealth  of  the  country,  the 
tendency  everywhere  in  every  business  to  organization, 
and  the  circumstance  so  unfortunate  for  the  people,  that 
the  general  assembly  did  not  in  the  enactment  of  the 
general  and  special  laws  authorizing  the  creation  of 
railroad  corporations,  expressly  reserve  such  sufficient 
power  to  regulate  and  control  their  internal  manage- 
ment as  would  ensure  the  protection  of  the  interests  of 
the  body  of  the  public. 

"  ...  The  State  of  Illinois  contains  within  its 
limits  more  than  six  thousand  miles  of  railroad,  they 
penetrate  almost  every  county.  And  the  railroads  of 
this  state,  by  their  legal  connections  and  the  identity  of 
their  interest  and  purposes  with  those  of  other  states, 
have  become  a  part  of  a  system  that  it  is  said  embraces 
sixty  thousand  miles  of  railroads  in  the  United  States, 
and  which  is  being  extended  to  limits  that  do  not  admit 
of  easy  definition.  The  railroad  and  carrying  interests 
control  a  larger  amount  of  capital  than  any  other  in  the 
United  States,  and  by  means  of  their  capital  and  their 
intimate  relation  with  all  other  business  pursuits,  ex- 
tending as  railroads  do  to  all  parts  of  the  country, 
they  exercise  a  greater  measure  of  influence  than  was 
ever  before  in  the  hands  of  individuals.  The  iron  rail, 
the  steam  engine  and  the  telegraph,  all  now  in  substantial 
co-operation,  already  control  the  commerce  of  the  con- 
tinent and  to  a  large  extent  influence  the  value  of  every 
product  of  industry  and  the  profits  of  every  business 
pursuit. 

"They  build  up  favored  cities  and  depress  their  rival ; 
they  have  diminished  the  value  of  the  great  rivers  and 
highways  of  commerce  and  the  shipping  of  the  lakes, 
and  that  engaged  in  coast  wise  trades,  embarrassed  by 


MESSAGE  TO  LEGISLATURE.  389 

obstacles  that  the  engine  upon  the  iron  rail  defies,  with 
the  new  agencies  maintain  but  a  feeble  and  struggling 
competition.  From  the  superiority  of  this  new  method 
of  transportation,  in  speed,  in  safety  and  in  power,  all 
other  modes  are  rendered  comparatively  useless,  and  the 
country  is  brought  to  face  the  fact  that  in  this  age  of 
remarkable  commercial  and  intellectual  activity  the  only 
available  lines  of  intercourse  and  trade  on  the  continent 
are  under  the  control  of  private  individuals,  who  assert 
for  themselves  the  power  and  the  right  to  impose 
burdens  upon  the  intercourse  and  commerce  of  the 
country  to  an  extent  to  which  they  acknowledge  no 
definite  limit,  nor  in  the  exercise  of  the  discretion  they 
claim  as  to  the  amount  they  may  impose  do  they  admit 
themselves  to  be  bound  by  any  rule  of  equality;  but 
they  maintain  their  right  to  discriminate  between  differ- 
ent points  of  their  own  lines  between  different  individ- 
uals engaged  in  the  same  business  at  the  same  points, 
and  to  increase  and  to  reduce  their  rates  at  pleasure, 
until  to  the  ordinary  hazards  of  business  is  added  the 
uncertain  fluctuations  dependent  upon  the  management 
of  railways.  In  my  judgment,  the  existing  laws  in- 
tended to  regulate  the  duties  and  define  the  obligations 
of  common  carriers  by  railway  will  not  accomplish  the 
object  desired,  for  the  reason,  amongst  others,  that  they 
are  to  a  certain  extent  based  upon  widespread  miscon- 
ception of  the  true  relation  of  that  class  of  public 
agents  to  the  people,  and  as  a  consequence  of  that  mis- 
conception the  regulation  for  the  government  of  the 
owners  and  managers  of  the  railway  lines  are  that  they 
are  confused  and  weakened  by  assuming  that  the  owner- 
ship and  management  of  railway  lines  and  the  receipt, 
and  transportation,  and  delivery  of  passengers  and 
freights  for  hire,  which  constitutes  the  business  of  a 
common  carrier  are  so  inseparable,  that  they  are  neces- 
sarily parts  of  the  same  general  business,  while  in  the 
nature  of  things  and  from  the  force  of  practices  that 
now  extensively  prevail  on  many  lines  of  railway,  they 


890  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

are  certainly  different  pursuits,  and  regulations  intended 
for  the  government  of  one  have  no  fitness  or  proper  appli- 
cation for  the  other.  .  .  .  It  was  with  a  view  to  break 
up  the  monopoly  of  the  use  of  their  own  railroad  lines  by 
common  carriers,  and  if  possible  to  separate  the  owner- 
ship of  railroad  property  from  the  prosecution  of  that 
business,  that  the  constitutional  convention  adopted  the 
tenth,  the  twelfth  and  the  fourteenth  sections  of  the 
eleventh  article  of  the  constitution.  Before  the  adop- 
tion of  the  constitution  of  1870,  the  public  mind  had 
become  so  affected  with  the  impression  that  railways 
could  only  be  useful  to  the  public  as  long  as  the  corpo- 
rations controlling  them  were  able  to  carry  on  business 
as  common  carriers,  that  a  disposition  was  sometimes  ap- 
parent to  consider  the  rolling-stock  and  other  movable 
property  of  railroad  corporations  as  appurtenant  to  the 
railroads.  To  correct  that  impression,  and  prevent  its 
further  growth,  the  tenth  section  of  the  eleventh  article 
of  the  constitution  was  adopted,  which  declares  that 
"the  rolling-stock  and  other  movable  property  of  any 
railroad  company  in  this  state  shall  be  considered  per- 
sonal property,  and  shall  be  liable  to  execution  and  sale 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  personal  property  of  indi- 
viduals, and  the  general  assembly  shall  pass  no  law  ex- 
empting any  such  property  from  execution  and  sale.'* 

And  then  to  lay  the  foundation  for  the  assertion  of 
the  public  right  to  authorize  competition  in  the  business 
of  carriers  on  the  roads  of  the  state,  and  to  furnish  the 
basis  for  the  proper  definition  of  the  rights  of  the  own- 
ers of  railroad  property  as  against  the  public  right  by 
its  use,  by  the  twelfth  section  of  that  article,  it  is  declared 
that  "railroads  heretofore  constructed,  or  that  may  here- 
after be  constructed  in  this  state,  are  public  highways, 
and  shall  be  free  to  all  persons  for  the  transportation  of 
their  persons  and  property  under  such  regulations  as 
shall  be  prescribed  by  law.  And  the  fourteenth  section 
recognizes  the  right  of  the  state  to  take  the  property  of 


MESSAGE  TO  LEGISLATURE.  391 

corporations  for  public  use  to  the  same  extent  that  the 
property  of  individuals  may  be  taken." 

I  then  committed  myself  to  the  doctrine  that  railways 
are  public  highways,  and  that  any  carrier  or  company 
of  carriers  might  organize  and  carry  freight  or  passen- 
gers to  the  extent  that  they  might  choose  to  determine, 
subject  to  such  compensation  for  the  use  of  the  fixed  fa- 
cilities of  railways  to  be  ascertained  by  valuation. 

With  reference  to  the  penitentiary,  I  said  :  "I  still  be- 
lieve that  with  proper  legislation  and  judicious  manage- 
ment it  may  be  made  eminently  useful  as  a  penal  and 
reformatory  agency,  and  at  the  same  time  substantially 
self-sustaining ;"  and  at  the  same  time  I  felt  it  my  duty 
to  add:  "The  only  practical  system  for  the  successful 
management  of  the  penitentiary  in  my  judgment  is  that 
which  combines  the  retention  of  complete  control  of  the 
discipline  and  government  of  the  convicts  by  the  state 
with  the  lease  of  their  labor  to  persons  engaged  in  special 
pursuits."  In  reference  to  the  reform  school  and  in- 
ebriate hospital,  I  said:  "Juvenile  offenders,  whose 
crimes  are  most  frequently  the  result  of  the  incapacity 
or  the  negligence  of  parents  or  guardians  or  neglected 
orphanage,  or,  as  experience  has  demonstrated,  with  re- 
spect to  many  of  that  class,  of  latent,  intellectual  or 
moral  incapacity  or  disease,  while  they  attract  and  en- 
list the  sympathies  of  the  philanthropic,  furnish  the 
most  encouraging  field  for  employment  of  reformatory 
agencies,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  as  the  state  advances 
in  wealth  and  culture,  a  greater  degree  of  attention  will 
be  given  not  only  to  the  classes  intended  to  be  provided 
for  and  benefitted  by  the  reform  school,  but  to  neglected 
childhood  wherever  it  may  be  found  in  the  state.  As  to 
the  inebriate  hospital,  recent  investigations  have  led  the 
most  intelligent  thinkers  to  the  conclusion  that  drunken- 
ness is  a  form  of  disease  that  admits  of  treatment  and 
cure.  .  .  .  But  enough  is  known  to  inspire  a  meas- 
ure of  confidence  in  curing  drunkenness,  and  no  one 
familiar  with  the  subject  will  hesitate  to  confess  that 


392  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

from  its  extensive  prevalence  and  the  mischiefs  and  dan- 
gers it  is  constantly  producing,  all  efforts  should  be  made 
to  ascertain  by  experiments  whether  it  does  admit  of 
permanent  cure ;  nor  would  the  failure  of  any  experi- 
ment that  might  be  made  by  the  state  relieve  the  sub- 
ject from  embarrassment,  for  there  will  still  remain  in 
the  community  a  large  and  dangerous  class  to  whom 
may  be  traced  the  commission  of  a  large  proportion  of 
the  crimes  that  afflict  society  and  disturb  social  order,  and 
the  time  has  come  when  it  is  a  reproach  to  the  state  that 
no  measure  can  be  devised  which  will  bring  relief.  I 
am  aware  that  some  urge  that  total  prohibition  of  the 
use  of  the  liquors  that  produce  intoxication  is  the  proper 
remedy  for  the  evil  of  drunkenness ;  but  I  have  never 
observed  any  satisfactory  evidence  of  a  real  intention  on 
the  part  of  the  people  to  enforce  prohibition,  nor  do  I 
believe  that  total  prohibition  of  intoxicating  agencies 
possible.  But  if  I  am  mistaken  in  this  opinion,  and  the 
time  shall  hereafter  arrive  when  the  men  who  believe 
the  total  prohibition  of  intoxicating  liquors  judicious  or 
possible  will  come  to  consider  that  object  of  enough  im- 
portance to  induce  them  to  prefer  its  success  to  that  of 
political  parties  and  vote  according  to  their  convictions 
and  succeed  in  giving  effect  to  their  views,  the  time  is 
not  so  near  at  hand  that  the  general  assembly  should 
on  account  of  its  approach  delay  to  make  provision  to 
relieve  society  from  the  almost  unendurable  evils  than 
drunkenness  now  produces.  .  .  .  To  me  the  theories 
upon  which  the  laws  respecting  drunkenness  depend  are 
manifestly  absurd,  as  they  are  oppressive  and  unjust. 
If  it  is  a  mere  habit  that  inflicts  no  public  injury,  all 
the  laws  that  treat  it  as  a  crime  are  unjust  and  should 
be  at  once  repealed.  If  it  is  a  crime,  it  should  be  pun- 
ished wherever  committed. 

"The  laws  should  be  enforced  impartially  without 
regard  to  the  social  standing  of  the  offender,  and  if  a 
crime,  persons  who  become  intoxicated  ought  to  be  sub- 
jected to  the  laws  that  authorize  dangerous  persons  to 


MESSAGE  TO  LEGISLATURE.  393 

be  restrained.  If  drunkenness  is  a  disease  or  habit  that 
produces  physical  alterations  that  assume  the  form  of 
diseased  mental  or  nervous  action  so  that  the  subject  be- 
comes an  object  of  danger  to  individuals  or  to  the  public 
peace,  punishments  that  assume  his  legal  responsibility 
are  unwarranted  and  unjust,  though  his  confinement 
may  be  justified  upon  grounds  that  are  consistent  with 
proper  regard  for  the  safety  of  the  public  and  with  the 
real  interests  of  the  unhappy  victim.  Accepting  what 
I  conceive  to  be  the  most  enlightened  as  well  as  the 
most  humane  view  of  the  subject,  I  recommend  to  the 
general  assembly  the  establishment  of  an  asylum  or  a 
retreat  for  inebriates,  to  which  all  persons  conscious  of 
their  unhappy  condition  may  voluntarily  resort  upon 
consenting  to  such  conditions  and  regulations  for  the 
government  of  their  conduct  as  may  be  prescribed  under 
the  authority  of  law,  and  to  which  all  habitual  drunkards 
and  persons  who  become  dangerous  when  intoxicated 
may  be  committed  and,  if  need  be,  confined  until  cured. 
The  safety  of  individuals  and  of  society  is  involved  in 
the  success  of  the  measure  proposed." 

After  having  referred  to  the  revision  of  the  laws,  ju- 
diciary, the  reports  of  the  state  officers  in  which  I  ex- 
pressed the  sentiment  that  I  cannot  permit  myself  to 
separate  from  these  officers  without  testifying  to  the 
faithfulness  with  which  all  of  them  have  discharged  their 
duty  to  the  state,  I  added  proudly  :  "The  State  of  Illi- 
nois is  now  substantially  free  from  debt,  and  the  time  is 
not  distant  when  it  will  occupy  the  proud  position 
among  the  states  of  having  discharged  all  its  obliga- 
tions and  of  imposing  no  burdens  upon  its  citizens,  ex- 
cept such  as  may  be  required  to  carry  on  its  govern- 
ment," and  concluded  in  the  following  language  :  "No 
one  is  more  conscious  than  I  am  that  in  the  necessarily 
active  share  I  have  taken  in  the  varied  affairs  of  this 
great  commonwealth,  I  have  in  the  judgment  of  some 
committed  mistakes,  but  I  have  in  all  my  important 
official  acts  been  governed  by  my  own  convictions  of 


394  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

duty.  .  .  .  My  duties  to  the  government  of  the 
United  States  begun  with  my  birth,  and  have  never  been 
forgotten  nor  neglected,  .  .  .  and  I  have  felt  under 
the  most  solemn  of  earthly  obligations  to  obey  and  de- 
fend and  support  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  State 
of  Illinois,  and  to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  state  against 
all  who  might  offend  them." 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  395 


CHAPTER  XXY. 

Presidential  canvass  of  1876 — Hayes  nominated  by  the  Republicans — 
Tilden  nominated  by  the  Democrats — Visited  Louisiana — Hayes' 
electors  counted  in — Correspondence  between  Democrats  and  Re- 
publicans— Report  to  Mr.  Hewitt — Nominated  for  United  States 
Senate — Declined  in  favor  of  General  Anderson — Election  of  Judge 
Davis. 

The  Republican  party  had  succeeded  in  the  presi- 
dential elections  of  1860  and  1864  with  Lincoln,  and 
with  Grant  in  1868  and  1872,  and  were  reluctant  to  con- 
cede the  possibility  of  the  election  of  a  Democrat  in 
1876,  and  when  its  national  convention  met  on  June  4, 
1876,  it  was  supposed  that  any  Republican  could  be 
elected.  The  convention  afforded  an  example  of  a  com- 
bination against  the  most  popular  candidate.  During 
the  session  it  was  "anything  to  beat  Blaine."  A  num- 
ber of  candidates  were  presented  to  the  convention  by 
their  friends  ;  among  them  were  Benjamin  H.  Bristow, 
of  Kentucky  ;  Roscoe  Conkling,  of  New  York  ;  Marshall 
Jewell,  of  Connecticut ;  Oliver  P.  Morton,  the  war  gov- 
ernor, of  Indiana  ;  John  F.  Hartranft,  of  Pennsylvania  ; 
Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  of  Ohio ;  and  James  G.  Blaine,  of 
Maine. 

Mr.  Hayes  was  nominated  on  the  seventh  ballot,  re- 
ceiving 384  votes,  and  351  for  Blaine,  and  21  for  Bris- 
tow, and  Wm.  A.  Wheeler  was  nominated  for  the  vice- 
presidency.  The  two-thirds  rule  does  not  prevail  in  the 
Republican  national  conventions,,  and  Mr.  Hayes  was 
nominated  by  a  majority  of  the  votes.  The  Democratic 
national  convention  began  its  session  on  June  27,  1876, 
and  nominated  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  lately  the  governor  of 
New  York,  for  the  presidency,  and  Thomas  A.  Hen- 
dricks,  late  governor  of  Indiana,  for  the  vice-presidency. 
These  nominations  were  received  in  a  very  different 


396  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

spirit  by  the  respective  parties.  Mr.  Elaine  was  the 
favorite  of  the  Illinois  Republicans,  and  his  defeat  cooled 
their  ardor,  and  humiliated  them,  while  Mr.  Hayes,  who 
was  conceded  to  be  an  honest  man,  which  he  had  proved 
as  governor  of  Ohio,  had  about  him  nothing  brilliant  or 
dazzling,  as  had  Mr.  Elaine. 

Mr.  Tilden,  on  the  other  hand,  was  esteemed  by  the 
Democratic  party  as  one  of  the  great  men  of  the  country. 
As  governor  of  New  York  he  had  smashed  the  "Tweed 
Ring,"  and  had  compelled  the  flight  of  the  "Boss"  and 
his  subordinates  to  foreign  countries  to  avoid  punish- 
ment for  their  crimes.  Although  I  favored  the  resump- 
tion of  specie  payments,  and  held  with  Greeley,  that  the 
proper  "way  to  resume  was  to  resume,"  and  approved 
the  act  of  congress  which  required  resumption  by  the 
United  States  on  January  1,  1879.  I  also  favored  tariff 
reform,  and  determined  to  support  Mr.  Tilden.  I  did 
so,  and  made  a  few  speeches  in  his  interest. 

Tilden's  election  to  the  presidency,  "according  to  the 
returns,"  seemed  to  be  assured  and  certain,  but  the 
country  was  startled  by  a  dispatch  issued  the  morning 
after  the  election  by  Hon.  Zachariah  Chandler,  the  chair- 
man of  the  Republican  national  committee,  and  secretary 
of  the  interior  in  the  cabinet  of  President  Grant,  that 
"Rutherford  B.  Hayes  has  secured  one  hundred  and 
eighty-five  electoral  votes,  and  is  elected." 

This  dispatch  showed  the  purpose  of  the  Republicans 
to  assail  the  returns  of  the  election,  and  when  the  presi- 
dent, as  he  did,  indicated  certain  Republicans  from  the 
North  to  attend  the  canvass  of  the  votes  in  the  states  of 
Florida,  Louisiana  and  South  Carolina,  it  became  cer- 
tain that  the  electoral  votes  of  those  states  were  to  be 
questioned. 

Mr.  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  chairman  of  the  national  Dem- 
ocratic committee,  finding  the  votes  of  the  states  before 
mentioned  were  attacked  by  the  Republicans,  selected  a 
number  of  Northern  Democrats  to  attend  the  canvass  of 
the  votes  for  election,  and  I  was  one  of  the  persons 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  397 

chosen  by  Mr.  Hewitt  to  go  to  Louisiana,  and  "witness 
a  fair  count." 

I  received  the  dispatch  from  Mr.  Hewitt  on  November 
10,  1876,  and  left  home  and  proceeded  to  New  Orleans, 
by  way  of  Louisville,  where  I  had  my  headquarters 
while  I  commanded  the  Department  of  Kentucky  ;  Nash- 
ville, where  I  had  commanded  troops  during  the  civil 
war,  and  then  by  Decatur,  where  I  had  crossed  the  Ten- 
nessee river  on  the  retreat  to  Nashville,  and  by  the  way 
of  Mobile,  which  I  had  never  seen,  and  arrived  at  New 
Orleans  on  November  13th. 

As  soon  as  the  representatives  of  the  northern  Demo- 
crats reached  New  Orleans  I  was  elected  chairman, 
and  we  called  upon  Governor  Kellogg,  whom  I  had 
known  in  Illinois,  and  afterwards  I  ascertained  the 
place  of  business  of  Mr.  Cazenave,  who  was  a  member 
of  the  returning  board,  and  called  upon  him,  and  there 
I  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet  Mr.  Kenner,  who  was 
also  a  colored  member  of  the  returning  board.  During 
my  conversation  with  Cazenave  and  Kenner  they  stated 
to  me  the  general  facts  of  the  political  situation  of 
Louisiana,  and  said  to  me  that  "in  several  parishes  that 
had  given  majorities  for  the  Tilden  electors  intimidation 
had  been  resorted  to." 

I  told  both  of  them  that  the  "returning  board  was  in- 
complete on  account  of  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Oscar 
Arroyo,"  which  I  had  learned  occurred  in  December, 
1874,  and  advised  them  that  the  board  had  no  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  election  returns  unless  the  vacancy  was  filled 
by  the  action  of  the  board,  which  it  had  power  under 
the  law  creating  it. 

I  said  to  Cazenave  and  Kenner  that  the  occasion  was 
a  grand  one  in  the  history  of  the  colored  race,  which 
had  unexpectedly  fallen  upon  them,  and  that  the  des- 
tinies of  both  political  parties  was  in  their  hands.  I 
urged  them  to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the  returning  board, 
aud  to  see  that  such  a  return  was  made  as  would  satisfy 
the  country  of  the  integrity  and  capacity  of  the  colored 


398  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

race.  Mr.  Cazenave  said  in  reply  that  the  Democratic 
party  could  not  be  trusted  to  take  care  of  the  colored 
people,  and  said,  in  substance,  that  that  party  should 
be  kept  out  of  power.  He  said  that  if  it  was  a  question 
of  making  General  Nichols  Governor  of  Louisiana  he 
would  be  inclined  to  accept  my  suggestions. 

He  thought  that  General  Nichols  was  in  sympathy 
with  the  colored  race,  at  least  to  the  extent  of  doing 
justice  to  that  race.  I  urged  them  to  appoint  a  fair 
man  to  fill  the  vacancy  and  to  insist  upon  a  colored 
man,  and  said  to  them  that  they,  with  the  colored  man 
(a  Democrat) ,  that  the  three  colored  members  of  the 
board,  could  make  a  report  that  would  satisfy  the 
country  that  the  negroes  had  the  capacity,  integrity 
and  courage  to  do  right,  and  to  present  the  facts  in 
regard  to  the  election  in  Louisiana  in  such  manner 
that  everybody  would  be  satisfied  that  it  was  done 
right. 

Cazenave 's  answer  after  all  that  I  had  said  was  that 
the  Democrats  could  not  be  trusted  with  the  interests  of 
the  colored  people,  and  Kennar  was  silent.  I  called 
upon  Governor  Wells  and  had  a  conversation  with  him, 
and  watched  for  the  coming  of  General  Anderson  who 
had  not  appeared  in  the  city. 

Governor  Wells  appeared  to  regard  himself  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  his  party.  He  disliked  the  local  politicians 
of  the  Democratic  party,  and  he  felt  an  unwillingness 
to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the  returning  board,  and  professed 
a  want  of  confidence  in  any  local  Democrat.  I  told  him 
there  was  a  general  feeling  throughout  the  United 
States  that  the  vacancy  in  the  returning  board  should  be 
filled.  He  answered  that  the  Democratic  member  of  the 
board,  Mr.  Arroyo,  having  resigned,  the  Democratic 
party  had  forfeited  its  right  to  representation  on  the 
returning  board. 

After  General  Anderson,  a  member  of  the  returning 
board,  had  reached  the  city,  I  had  several  conversations 
with  him.  He  seemed  disposed  to  fill  the  vacancy  on 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  399 

the  board,  but  he  could  not  agree  with  his  colleagues 
on  the  man  to  be  appointed,  which  was  probably  a  mere 
pretense. 

He  bore  testimony  to  the  intelligence  and  integrity  of 
Dr.  Hugh  Kennedy,  the  person  recommended  by  the 
Democrats,  but  the  vacancy  was  never  filled.  After  I 
had  my  several  conversations  with  Cazenave  and  Kenner, 
the  colored  members,  and  with  Wells  and  Anderson,  the 
white  members  of  the  returning  board,  I  was  satisfied 
that  they  would  declare  the  Hayes  electors  to  have 
been  chosen  by  the  voters  of  Louisiana. 

I  thought  Cazenave  to  be  an  honest  man  from  his 
standpoint,  but  he  thought  that  the  interests  of  the 
colored  race  demanded  the  election  of  Hayes  to  the 
presidency,  and  blinded  by  prejudice  he  was  incapable 
of  doing  justice  to  the  subject  or  of  a  decision  according 
to  law.  Kenner  was  a  very  ''common  mulatto"  and 
was  controlled  by  Wells,  whose  mind  was  made  up  as 
soon  as  he  perceived  the  importance  of  the  questions 
submitted  to  the  returning  board,  and  General  "Tom." 
Anderson  was  a  soldier  of  fortune,  ready  to  take  any 
service  and  to  find  according  to  his  interest. 

After  the  Republican  visitors  reached  New  Orleans,  a 
meeting  of  the  Democratic  visitors  was  held,  which  con- 
sisted of  Lyman  Trumbull  and  William  R.  Morrison,  of 
Illinois  ;  Samuel  J.  Randall,  A.  G.  Curtin  and  William 
Bigler,  of  Pennsylvania;  J.  R.  Doolittle  and  Geo.  B. 
Smith,  of  Wisconsin;  Joseph  E.  McDonald,  Geo.  W. 
Julian,  M.  D.  Manson  and  John  Love,  of  Indiana  ;  Henry 
Watterson,  J.  W.  Stevenson  and  Henry  D.  McHenry,  of 
Kentucky  ;  Oswald  Ottendorfer  and  others  of  New  York, 
and  myself,  and  we  attempted  to  secure  the  co-operation 
of  the  Republicans  in  preparing  a  statement  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  returning  board  of  Louisiana,  to  be  laid 
before  the  country. 

Reply  of  the  Republicans  relative  to  a  conference. 
(We  had  the  following  correspondence  with  them .  Our 
letter  omitted) : 


400  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"New  ORLEANS,  LA.,  Nov.  16,  1876. 
'•'•Gentlemen — "We  are  gratified  to  learn,  that  we  have 
misapprehended  the  language  and  spirit  of  your  com- 
munication of  November  14th,  inst.,  and  that  we  were 
in  error  in  attributing  to  you  the  purpose  to  interfere 
with  legally  constituted  authorities  in  this  state  in  the 
discharge  of  their  duties.  Perhaps  this  apprehension 
was  the  natural  result  of  the  language  employed.  Our 
request  was  to  meet  and  confer  with  you  personally  or 
through  committees,  in  order  that  such  influence  as  we 
possess  may  be  exerted  in  behalf  of  such  a  canvass  of  the 
votes  actually  cast,  as  by  its  fairness  and  impartiality 
shall  command  the  respect  and  acquiescence  of  the 
American  people.  This,  as  we  understood  it,  was  for 
the  purpose  of  influencing  the  action  of  the  returning 
board  in  the  discharge  of  its  duties.  The  president  had 
requested  us  to  attend  to  witness,  not  to  influence  such 
a  canvass,  and  knows  that  such  request  by  him  was 
not  intended  to  witness  the  count  of  votes  actually  cast, 
but  the  entire  proceedings  of  the  board  in  reaching  the 
result.  As  to  the  votes  legally  cast  to  be  counted,  we 
are  gratified  to  learn  that  you  concur  with  the  president, 
and  with  us  in  this  understanding.  You  also  state  that 
you  are  fully  aware  that  both  the  organization  and  ac- 
tion, judicial  and  ministerial,  of  the  returning  board  of 
Louisiana,  was  beyond  the  authoritative  control  from 
without ;  and  that  it  would  be  the  height  of  arrogance 
and  folly  to  attempt  to  alter  the  laws  of  a  state  of  which 
we  are  not  citizens,  or  to  obtrude  our  interpretation  of 
the  laws  upon  those  whose  duty  it  is  to  administer  them . 
We  may  therefore,  as  we  think,  assume  that  you  will  agree 
with  us,  that  it  would  be  arrogance  equally  to  attempt 
by  our  concerted  action  to  influence  the  proceedings  or 
the  results  of  courts  of  justice,  or  of  boards  acting 
judicially,  and  hence  we  are  gratified  at  being  able  from 
the  language  and  tenor  of  your  letter,  to  assume  that 
you  did  not  wish  to  confer  with  us  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
fluencing the  action  of  the  returning  board,  but  only  to 


ELECTORAL  CONTEST  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.         401 

secure  such  co-operation  on  our  part  as  would  enable  us 
jointly  with  yourselves  to  witness  the  proceedings 
throughout.  Conference  for  such  purpose  would  now 
seem  to  be  unnecessary,  as  we  learn  from  a  communica- 
tion just  received  from  the  board,  which  appears  to  us,  to 
accomplish  what,  by  your  explanatory  note,  you  desire  to 
attain  through  the  proposed  conference.  We  will  add 
that  it  is  very  apparent  that  if  your  wish  is  to  see  a  fair 
and  honest  expression  of  the  electoral  vote  of  Louisiana, 
there  is  no  difference  between  ourselves  and  you  except 
as  to  our  conduct  with  reference  to  that  result.  You 
have  proposed  conference  and  active  associated  influence  ; 
this  we  regard  as  beyond  our  duty,  or  our  privilege  as  in- 
dividuals. We  shall  be  happy  at  all  times  to  confer  with 
you  as  individuals,  to  co-operate  in  whatever  is  right,  but 
concerted  action,  for  the  purpose  of  influencing  an  of- 
ficial board,  we  hold  to  be  beyond  our  privilege,  and  we 
shall  hope  that  all  may  come  to  pass  which  good  citizens 
can  wish,  without  the  use  of  any  such  means.  We  re- 
main, gentlemen,  Very  respectfully, 

"Signed  by  John  Sherman,  Stanley  Matthews,  J.  A. 
Garneld,  Ohio ;  E.  W.  Stoughton,  J.  W.  Van  Allen, 
New  York;  W.  D.  Kelley,  Pennsylvania;  Joe  E. 
Stevenson,  Ohio ;  Eugene  Hale,  Maine ;  J.  M.  Tuttle, 
J.  M.  Chapman,  W.  R.  Smith,  W.  A.  McGrew,  Iowa; 
Sidney  Clarke,  J.  C.  Wilson,  Kansas ;  C.  B.  Farwell, 
Abner  Taylor,  J.  M.  Beardsley,  S.  R.  Haven,  Illinois ; 
John  Colburn,  Will.  Cumback,  Indiana;  C.  Irvin  Ditty, 
Maryland. 

"To  Hon.  John  M.  Palmer,  Lyman  Trumbull,  W.  R. 
Morrison,  Illinois;  Samuel  J.  Randall,  A.  J.  Curtin, 
Win.  Bigler,  Pennsylvania;  J.  R.  Doolittle,  Geo.  B. 
Smith,  Wisconsin;  J.  E.  McDonald,  Indiana;  and 
others." 

The  following  is  the  reply  to  the  Rebublicans'  letter 
yesterday  refusing  to  confer  with  the  Democrats  : 
26 


402  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.,  Nov.  17th. 

' '  Gentlemen — We  are  in  receipt  of  your  answer  to  our 
letter  of  the  14th  inst.,  in  which  you  inform  us  of  your 
determination  not  to  confer  with  us  for  the  purpose  of 
exerting  such  influence  as  we  may  possess  in  behalf  of 
such  canvass  of  the  votes  actually  cast  in  Louisiana  as 
by  its  fairness  and  impartiality  shall  command  the  ac- 
quiescence and  respect  of  all  parties.  We  sincerely  re- 
gret this  failure  of  our  attempt  to  secure  a  co-operation 
of  citizens  from  other  states,  in  furtherance  of  the  pur- 
pose which,  as  we  supposed,  had  brought  them  hither  at 
this  juncture. 

"It  can  hardly  have  escaped  your  notice  that  our  state- 
ment of  the  result  to  be  obtained  by  the  co-operative  ac- 
tion which  we  sought  to  bring  about,  was  a  simple  re- 
production of  the  language  of  President  Grant,  at  whose 
request  you  are  here.  In  his  recent  orders  to  General 
Sherman,  that  language  was  deliberately  used,  no  doubt, 
in  view  of  the  fact,  about  which,  as  we  conceive,  there 
can  be  no  dispute,  that  the  first  and  most  essential  pre- 
requisite to  an  honest,  just  declaration  of  the  result  of 
the  recent  election  in  Louisiana,  is  a  fair  and  impartial 
canvass  of  the  votes  really  cast,  to  include  votes  illegally 
cast,  as  you  certainly  do  us  injustice,  or  imputation,  of 
a  desire  to  insist  upon  such  a  narrow  and  vicious  in- 
terpretation. In  our  judgment,  the  expression,  'votes 
actually  cast,'  of  necessity  designates  votes  legally  cast, 
and  as  a  consequence  of  such  votes  only  did  we  desire 
to  secure  a  fair  and  impartial  canvass. 

"We  beg  leave  to  say,  therefore,  that  you  are  mistaken 
in  the  belief  that  we  sought  unduly  to  name  a  basis  on 
which  we  invited  your  co-operative  action,  and  you  are 
no  less  in  error  in  attributing  to  us  a  purpose  to  inter- 
fere with  the  legal  authorities  of  this  state  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  duties,  or  to  claim  rights,  and  to  arro- 
gate to  ourselves  powers  which  we  do  not  possess.  In 
writing  our  letter,  we  were  fully  aware  that  both  the 
organization  and  action,  whether  judicial  or  ministerial, 


ELECTORAL  VOTE  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  403 

of  the  returning  board  of  Louisiana,  were  beyond  any 
authoritative  control  from  without,  and  that  it  would  be 
the  height  of  arrogance  and  folly  to  attempt  to  alter  the 
laws  of  a  state  of  which  we  are  not  citizens,  or  to  in- 
trude our  interpretation  of  these  laws  upon  those  whose 
duty  it  is  to  administer  them  ;  but  we  had  supposed,  never- 
theless, that  there  was  an  influence  which  might  be  right- 
fully exerted,  even  by  citizens  of  this  republic,  who  are 
strangers  in  this  state,  and  we  had  taken  it  for  granted 
that  your  presence  here,  in  response  to  the  suggestion  of 
the  president  was  a  recognition  of  the  fact.  We  had  not 
supposed  that  it  was  improper  for  us  to  remind  the  au- 
thorities of  the  state,  by  our  mere  presence  at  least,  that 
there  are  certain  rules  of  fairness  and  justice  which  un- 
derlie all  constitutions  and  laws,  and  upon  whose  ob- 
servance most  depends  the  acquiescence  of  the  people  of 
all  parties  in  the  declared  result  of  the  Louisiana  elec- 
tion. Rules  such  as  these  :  That  no  one  ought  to  be  judge 
of  his  own  case ;  that  the  decision  of  any  contest  ought 
not  to  depend  upon  the  arbitrament  of  one  of  the  par- 
ties thereto  ;  that  before  such  decision  is  made,  both  par- 
ties ought  to  be  fully  and  fairly  heard ;  that  all  ques- 
tions of  law  ought  to  be  decided  in  conformity  with  its 
established  general  principles,  and  all  questions  of  fact, 
upon  evidence  duly  presented  and  weighed  under  rules 
which  are  of  universal  recognition  in  all  the  states  of 
this  Union  ;  that  the  trial  of  all  causes  involving  public 
interests  at  least  ought  to  be  public,  and  that  all  pro- 
ceedings resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  determining  is- 
sues to  the  present  electoral  contest  ought,  by  their 
manifest  impartiality,  to  disarm  suspicion  that  the  forms 
of  law  have  been  perverted  into  instruments  for  viola- 
tion of  its  spirit. 

"In  this  connection,  we  may  be  permitted  to  observe 
that,  while  undoubtedly,  as  you  say,  a  sedulous  inculca- 
tion and  cultivation  of  habits  of  obedience  to  forms  of 
law  is  vital  to  the  preservation  of  constitutional  liberty, 
it  is  no  less  important  that  a  refusal  to  yield  such 


404  THE  STOIlY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

obedience  be  not  provoked  by  using  these  forms  as  a 
means  for  subverting  the  very  ends  for  which  they  were 
designed. 

"Without  undertaking  to  question  the  sincerity  of  the 
belief  which  you  are  at  pains  to  express,  that  you  know 
of  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  Louisiana  returning 
board  will  make  a  perfectly  honest  and  just  declaration 
of  the  results  of  the  recent  election  in  Louisiana,  we 
deem  it  not  improper  to  remind  you  that  the  presence 
in  this  city  of  so  many  citizens  from  all  parts  of  the 
Union,  at  this  moment,  seems  to  be  evidence  of  a  widely 
prevalent  distrust  of  the  actions  of  this  board,  and  that 
such  distrust  has  this  foundation  at,  least  that  the  con- 
struction of  the  board  has  not  been  changed  since  its 
returns  were  set  aside  by  a  congressional  committee,  of 
which  the  Republican  candidate  for  vice-president  was  a 
member,  and  this  distrust  is  not  unnatural,  in  view  of 
the  fact,  that,  as  we  understood,  one  of  the  members  of 
the  returning  board  is  a  candidate  voted  for  at  the  recent 
election.  Another  is  the  holder  of  an  office  of  profit  and 
trust  by  appointment  of  the  present  executive  of  the 
national  government,  while  the  members  of  the  board 
are  believed  to  be  in  affiliation  with  but  one  of  the  parties 
to  the  present  political  contest. 

"In  view  of  all  this,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that 
the  terms  of  our  letter  were  not  designed  to  prejudge 
the  question  whether  the  functions  of  the  returning 
board  were  judicial  or  ministerial,  or  both,  but  simply 
to  invite  you  to  see,  with  us,  whatever  may  be  the  char- 
acter of  these  functions,  they  are  openly,  fairly  and  hon- 
estly discharged  ;  and  while  we  thus  refrained  from  any 
attempt  at  stating  a  construction  of  the  laws  of  Louis- 
iana, we  deemed  it  equally  irrelevant  to  the  subject  of 
our  correspondence  with  you  to  allude  to  the  duties  de- 
volving upon  officers  other  than  constituents  of  the 
Louisiana  returning  board  under  the  laws  of  the  consti- 
tution of  the  United  States. 

"Whether,  as  you  observe  byway  of  illustration  under 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  405 

the  constitution,  the  president  of  the  senate  both  counts 
and  declares  the  votes  of  the  several  states,  his  duty 
being  purely  ministerial  and  not  subject  to  the  control 
of  congress,  or  whether,  as  has  been  the  practice  for 
more  than  eighty  years — a  practice  inaugurated  by  men 
some  of  whom  had  been  framers  of  the  constitution — 
votes  are  to  be  counted  under  the  direction  and  control 
of  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives,  is  a  question 
upon  the  discussion  of  which  we  deem  it  no  part  of  our 
duty  to  enter. 

"In  conclusion,  permit  us  to  say  that,  notwithstanding 
your  refusal  to  co-operate,  we  still  cherish  the  hope  that 
the  returning  board,  warned  by  the  history  of  the  past 
and  conscious  that  its  actions  are  being  observed  by  the 
whole  nation,  will  discharge  its  delicate  duties  with  such 
circumspection,  fairness  and  impartiality  as  shall  give 
satisfaction  to  the  American  people.  To  this  end,  we 
will  continue  to  labor.  Should  a  different  result  follow 
the  action  of  this  board,  we  shall  have  the  satisfaction 
of  knowing  that,  while  you  have  taken  the  responsibility 
of  declining  to  act  with  us,  we  have  done  all  in  our 
power  to  avert  the  consequences  which  must  follow. 
"Very  respectfully, 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER,  Illinois, 
"LYMAN  TRUMBULL,  Illinois, 
"W.  R.  MORRISON,  Illinois, 
"SAMUEL  J.  RANDALL,  Pennsylvania, 
"A.  G.  CURTIN,  Pennsylvania, 
"WM.  BIGLER,  Pennsylvania, 
"J.  R.  DOOLITTLE,  Wisconsin, 
"GEQ.  B.  SMITH,  "Wisconsin, 
"J.  E.  MCDONALD,  Indiana,  and  others." 

The  following  correspondence  took  place  on  Thursday 
and  Friday  between  the  northern  Democratic  and  Re- 
publican committees,  now  in  New  Orleans,  watching  the 
canvass  of  the  vote  of  Louisiana  by  the  returning  board  : 


406  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


ORLEANS,  LA.,  November  30,  1876. 
"HoN.  JOHN  M.  PALMER,  Chairman:  Dear  Sir  —  It  is 
our  purpose  to  communicate  to  the  president  copies  of 
the  testimony  of  witnesses  taken  under  the  order  of  the 
board  of  returning  officers  before  a  commissioner,  but 
we  have  no  means  of  getting  copies  of  such  depositions 
as  are  taken  in  behalf  of  the  Democratic  candidates  for 
electors.  If  you  will  secure  us  copies,  with  depositions, 
we  will  with  pleasure  transmit  them  with  the  copies  of 
depositions  taken  by  the  Republican  candidates,  so  that 
if  printed  hereafter,  the  whole  body  of  testimony  may 
be  read  and  considered  together.  No  doubt  a  request 
by  you  of  the  gentlemen  taking  depositions  will  enable 
you  to  comply  with  our  wish  for  a  copy  of  them. 

(Signed,)  "JOHN  SHERMAN." 

"NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.,  Dec.  1,  1876. 

"HoN.  JOHN  SHERMAN:  Dear  Sir  —  Your  note  of  yes- 
terday's date  received  this  morning,  and  at  once  laid  be- 
fore the  gentlemen  with  whom  I  am  associated,  and  they 
instruct  me  to  answer  that  they  are  extremely  anxious 
that  all  facts  relating  to  the  election  of  presidential 
electors  in  Louisiana  shall  be  known  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  but  that  your  note  contains  no  assurance 
that  the  evidence  collected  here  will  be  laid  before  the 
country.  They  further  instruct  me  to  say,  that,  upon 
that  and  other  grounds,  they  decline  to  be  the  medium 
of  communication  between  representatives  of  the  presi- 
dent and  citizens  who,  at  the  late  election  voted  for  presi- 
dential electors. 

"They  would  gladly  unite  and  co-operate  with  you 
and  associates  in  collecting  and  collating  for  publication 
such  returns,  protests,  petitions,  exceptions  and  evidence 
taken  by  all  parties,  with  any  other  parties  which  may 
be  necessary  to  a  full  understanding  of  all  the  questions 
at  issue  in  the  election  for  presidential  electors  in  this 
state. 

"In  view  of  your  proposition,  and  the  importance  of  a 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1875.  407 

proper  understanding  of  all  the  facts  by  the  country,  we 
must  express  our  regrets  that  you  declined  the  co-op- 
erative action  proposed  by  us  in  the  beginning. 

"Very  respectfully,         JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  PEOPLE. 

New  Orleans,  Dec.  1.  The  Democratic  visiting  com- 
mittee issued  the  following  address  : 

" To  the  People  of  the  United  States. 

"Upon  our  arrival  here,  in  casting  about  for  ap- 
proaches to  officials  who  control  the  elections  in  this 
state,  we  discovered  that  they  were  all  of  one  political 
party ;  that  the  governor  had  appointed  none  but  Re- 
publican supervisors  of  election,  and  that  the  returning 
officers  constituting  the  state  board  were  of  the  same 
political  school. 

"Influenced  by  those  inauspicious  surroundings,  our 
thoughts  and  hopes  were  turned  towards  the  eminent 
gentlemen  who  had  been  selected  by  the  president  to  be 
present,  and  see  that  the  board  of  canvassers  made  a 
fair  count  of  the  votes  actually  cast,  and  on  November 
14th  we  invited  these  gentlemen  to  meet  and  confer  with 
us.  This  co-operation  was  declined,  but  nevertheless  we 
have  reason  to  believe  that  to  this  correspondence  may 
be  attributed  the  invitation  to  us,  on  the  18th  ult.,  by 
the  returning  board  to  be  present  at  its  meetings  as 
spectators  and  witnesses  of  its  proceedings. 

"Through  this  courtesy,  and  the  services  of  a  competent 
stenographer,  we  are  possessed  of  all  the  essential  facts, 
determined  on  the  facts  of  the  official  papers.  We  have 
been  furnished  with  a  certified  copy  of  the  duplicate 
statement  of  votes  made  by  the  commissioners  of  elec- 
tion at  each  place  of  voting  in  the  state.  From  these  state- 
ments it  appears  that  Tilden  electors  received  the  fol- 
lowing votes,  to-wit ;  McEnery,  83,712 ;  Wickliffe,  83,- 
880;  St.  Martin,  83,676;  Poche,  83,539;  De  Blanc, 
83,667  ;  Seay,  83,842  ;  Cobb,  83,579  ;  Cross,  83,652,  and 


408  THE  STOKY   OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  Hayes  electors  received  the  following  votes  to-wit : 
Kellogg,  77,152;  Burch,  77,144;  Joseph,  74,889;  Shel- 
don, 74,844  ;  Marks,  75,221 ;  Levisse,  75,570  ;  Brewster, 
75,457;  Jefferson,  75,956. 

"The  result  for  the  vote  of  the  presidential  electors, 
as  disclosed  on  the  face  of  the  returns  opened  by  the  re- 
turning board  in  our  presence  for  the  Tilden  electors, 
McEnery,  82,233;  Wickliffe,  82,326;  St.  Martin,  82,- 
129  ;  Poche,  82,036  ;  De  Blanc,  82,065  ;  Seay,  32,242  ; 
Cobb,  81,959;  Cross,  82,109. 

"For  the  Hayes  electors:  Kellogg,  77,023;  Burch, 
76,983;  Joseph,  74,642;  Sheldon,  74,678;  Marks,  75,- 
087 ;  Levisse,  75,157,  Brewster,  72,270 ;  Jefferson, 
75,390. 

"In  most  cases  the  returns  opened  by  the  returning 
board  correspond  with  the  certified  copies  of  statements 
of  the  commissioners  of  elections  furnished  us.  The 
most  material  arose  from  the  failure  of  the  supervisors 
of  East  Baton  Rouge,  Tangipahoa  and  Orleans  to  for- 
ward statements  of  votes  from  all  voting  places  in  their 
respective  parishes.  In  thirty-five  out  of  the  thirty- 
eight  states  of  the  Union  these  figures  would  be  con- 
clusive. 

"No  one  would  claim  that  Tilden  and  Hendricks  were 
not  entitled  to  the  electoral  vote  of  the  state,  but  in  Louisi- 
ana a  tribunal  has  been  set  up,  which  on  a  former  occasion, 
has  overthrown  the  will  of  the  people  as  expressed  at 
the  polls,  and  for  which  power  is  now  claimed,  in  its 
discretion,  to  change  the  results  of  the  popular  vote  at 
the  present  election.  In  view,  however,  of  the  returns, 
the  law  and  the  facts  which  should  control  the  return- 
ing board,  with  which  we  have  made  ourselves  familiar, 
we  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  result  shown 
by  the  votes  actually  cast  cannot  be  changed  without  a 
palpable  abuse  of  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  law  govern- 
ing the  returning  board  and  manifest  perversion  of  the 
facts  before  it. 

"Irregularities  have  been  committed  in  some  instances 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  409 

by  officers  conducting  elections  and  in  making  returns, 
but  they  are  about  as  much  on  one  side  as  the  other,  and 
as  to  intimidation,  violence,  or  other  illegal  acts  pre- 
venting a  free  and  fair  election,  there  is  evidence  on 
both  sides ;  but  not  of  sufficient  character  to  affect  the 
general  result. 

"In  most  instances  the  acts  of  violence  proceeded 
from  mere  lawlessness,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Pinkston 
family,  and  had  no  connection  with  politics.  It  is  a 
significant  fact  that  in  parishes  where  it  is  alleged  that 
voters  were  kept  from  the  polls  by  intimidation,  the  total 
vote  of  such  parishes  was  as  large  as  at  any  time  hereto- 
fore, and  in  the  whole  state  it  is  1,500  above  any  vote 
heretofore  cast. 

"An  honest  and  fair  canvass  of  the  returns,  even  un- 
der  the   laws   of   Louisiana,  cannot   materially   reduce 
Tilden's  majority  as  shown  on  the  face  of  the  returns. 
(Signed,)  JOHN  M.  PALMER, 

LYMAN  TRUMBULL, 
WM.  BIGLER, 
GEO.  B.  SMITH, 
GEO.  W.  JULIAN, 
P.  H.  WATSON, 

"To  Hon.  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  Chairman  Democratic 
National  Committee. 

"The  returning  board  of  Louisiana  having  this  day 
promulgated,  as  the  result  of  the  recent  election  in  that 
state,  that  the  Hayes  and  Wheeler  candidates  for  elect- 
ors received  a  majority  of  the  votes,  we  who  by  invita- 
tion watched  the  proceedings  of  the  board  in  opening 
and  canvassing  the  returns  until  it  went  into  secret 
session,  deem  it  our  duty  to  lay  before  you  and  the  pub- 
lic such  facts  connected  with  the  election  and  the  re- 
turns as  will,  we  think,  clearly  show  that  the  action  of 
the  returning  board  in  proclaiming  the  election  of  the 
Hayes  electors  as  arbitrary,  unfair  and  without  warrant 
of  law,  and  we  adopt  as  applicable  to  this  canvass  the 


410  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

language  of  a  report  made  the  United  States  house  of 
representatives  in  1875,  by  George  F.  Hoar,  William  A. 
Wheeler  and  William  P.  Fry,  in  regard  to  the  canvass 
of  1872,  in  which  they  say,  'The  so-called  canvass  made 
by  the  returning  board  in  the  interest  of  Kellogg  seems 
to  us  to  have  no  validity  and  is  entitled  to  no  respect 
whatever.'  We  also  adopt  the  language  of  this  same 
report  upon  the  condition  of  Louisiana  in  1875,  'In  the 
State  of  Louisiana  there  is  a  governor  in  office  who 
owes  his  seat  to  the  interference  of  the  national  power, 
which  has  recognized  his  title  to  his  office  not  by  reason 
of  any  ascertainment  of  the  facts  by  legal  process,  but 
has  based  its  action  solely  on  the  illegal  order  of  a 
judge.  In  the  same  state  there  is  a  legislature  one 
branch  of  which  derives  its  authority  partly  from  the 
same  order,  the  other  being  organized  by  a  majority 
who  have  been  established  in  power  by  another  inter- 
ference of  the  national  government,  and  which  majority 
derives  its  title  not  from  any  legal  ascertainment  of  the 
facts  but  from  the  certificates  of  a  returning  board 
which  has  misconceived  and  exceeded  its  legal  au- 
thority. ' 

"November  18,  1876,  before  the  returning  board  com- 
menced the  canvass  of  the  electoral  vote,  the  candidates 
for  electors  on  the  Democratic  ticket  presented  a  protest 
against  its  jurisdiction  over  the  subject  or  its  canvass  of 
the  votes  relating  to  the  same.  The  protest  was  sum- 
marily overruled  by  the  board  without  affording  an 
opportunity  for  argument.  No  legal  proposition,  in  our 
opinion,  is  clearer  than  that  the  board  was  mistaken  as 
to  its  powers,  and  that  'it  had  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  the  electoral  vote.'  Each  state  shall  appoint  in  such 
manner  as  the  legislature  thereof  may  direct  a  number 
of  electors  equal  to  the  whole  number  of  senators  and 
representatives  to  which  the  state  may  be  entitled  in  the 
congress,  but  no  senator  or  representative,  or  person 
holding  an  office  of  trust  or  profit  under  the  United 
States,  shall  be  appointed  as  an  elector. 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  4H 

"The  legislature  of  Louisiana  has  either  directed  the 
manner  in  which  electors  in  that  state  shall  be  appointed 
or  it  has  not.  The  election  law  of  1872,  and  amend- 
ments under  which  the  returning  board  is  created  and 
acts,  makes  no  provision  as  to  the  manner  of  appointing 
electors  of  presidents  and  vice-presidents,  whether  by 
the  legislature  or  by  vote  of  the  people,  nor  whether  by 
the  state  at  large  or  by  congressional  districts,  nor  does 
it  contain  any  provisions  as  to  the  qualifications  of  elec- 
tors, the  place  where  they  are  to  meet,  nor  for  filling 
vacancies.  Section  71  of  that  act  declares  as  follows : 
'That  this  act  shall  take  effect  from  and  after  its  passage, 
and  that  all  others  on  the  subject  of  election  laws  be 
and  the  same  are  hereby  repealed.'  This  is  not  an 
implied,  but  a  direct,  repeal  of  all  election  laws  to  which 
it  refers,  and  if  it  repeals  the  previous  act  of  1868,  re- 
vised in  1870,  providing  for  the  appointment  of  presi- 
dential electors,  it  repeals  the  whole  of  it  and  all  its  pro- 
visions, and  there  is  no  law  of  the  state  on  that  subject, 
and  of  course  the  board  would  have  no  jurisdiction  to 
canvass  votes  cast  for  such  officers.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  act  of  1872  does  not  repeal  the  law  of  1870, 
then  presidential  electors  must  be  appointed,  and  the 
canvass  of  the  votes  therefor  must  be  made  in  accord- 
ance with  the  law  of  1870,  and  the  returning  board  has 
no  jurisdiction  over  the  subject,  as  will  be  seen  by  refer- 
ence to  some  of  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  1870,  which 
are  as  follows  : 

"Section  2824.  Every  qualified  voter  in  the  state  shall 
vote  for  electors  as  follows :  Two  persons  shall  be 
selected  from  the  state  at  large,  and  one  person  shall  be 
chosen  from  each  congressional  district  in  the  state  ;  and 
in  case  any  ticket  shall  contain  two  or  more  names  of 
persons  residing  in  the  same  district  (except  the  two 
chosen  from  the  state  at  large)  the  first  of  such  names 
only  shall  be  considered  as  duly  voted  for. 

"Section  2825.  No  person  shall  be  considered  a  quali- 
fied elector  who  is  not  a  qualified  voter  in  the  district  for 


412  THE  STORY  OF  AN   EARNEST  LIFE. 

which  he  is  chosen,  or  in  case  of  being  selected  for  the 
state  at  large,  then  of  some  parish  of  the  state. 

"Section  2826.  Immediately  after  the  receipt  of  a  re- 
turn from  each  parish,  or  on  the  fourth  Monday  of 
November,  if  the  returns  should  not  sooner  arrive,  the 
governor,  in  the  presence  of  the  secretary  of  state,  the 
attorney-general,  a  district  judge  of  the  district  in  which 
the  seat  of  government  may  be  established,  or  any 
two  of  them,  shall  examine  the  returns  and  ascertain 
therefrom  the  persons  who  have  been  duly  elected 
electors. 

"Section  2829.  The  electors  shall  meet  at  the  seat  of 
government  on  the  day  appointed  for  their  meeting  by 
the  act  of  congress,  and  shall  then  and  there  proceed 
to  execute  the  duties  and  services  enjoined  upon  them 
by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  in  the  manner 
therein  prescribed. 

"Section  2830.  If  any  one  or  more  of  the  electors 
chosen  by  the  people  shall  fail  for  any  cause  whatever  to 
attend  at  the  appointed  place  at  the  hour  of  4  p.  M.  of 
the  day  prescribed  for  their  meeting,  it  shall  be  the  duty 
of  the  other  electors  immediately  to  proceed  by  ballot  to 
fill  such  vacancy  or  vacancies." 

"It  is  immaterial,  so  far  as  it  affects  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  returning  board,  whether  the  act  of  1870,  relating 
to  the  appointment  of  presidential  electors,  is  repealed 
or  not.  If  repealed,  there  is  no  law  in  Louisiana  for  the 
appointment  of  presidential  electors ;  if  not  repealed, 
then'  the  canvass  of  the  returns  for  such  electors 
must  be  made  by  the  governor  in  the  presence  of  the 
secretary  of  state,  the  attorney-general,  a  judge  of  the 
district  in  which  the  seat  of  government  may  be  estab- 
lished, or  any  two  of  them,  as  required  by  the  act  of 
1870  ;  and  in  making  such  canvass,  they  would  be  con- 
fined to  an  ascertainment  of  the  persons  elected,  accord- 
ing to  the  returns,  without  authority  to  reject  votes.  In 
no  event  can  the  returning  board  have  jurisdiction  over 
the  returns  of  electors  of  president  and  vice-president, 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  413 

and  their  canvass  of  the  same  is  therefore  a  nullity  and 
entitled  to  no  respect  from  anyone.  In  another  aspect, 
it  may  be  important  to  determine  whether  the  act  of 
1870  is  repealed,  for  if  it  is,  the  statutes  of  the  state  pro- 
vide no  mode  of  filling  vacancies  in  the  electoral  college, 
and  it  is  understood  that  two  of  the  electoral  candidates 
on  the  Republican  ticket  held  offices  of  trust  or  profit 
under  the  United  States  at  the  time  of  the  election,  and 
could  not,  therefore,  be  appointed  electors.  Other  ob- 
jections were  made  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  returning 
board.  That  it  was  anti-Republican ;  that  it  was  in 
conflict  with  the  constitution  of  the  state,  in  that  it  un- 
dertook to  exercise  judicial  functions,  and  in  that  with 
only  four  members  it  was  not  legally  constituted.  The 
election  law  declares  :  'That  five  persons,  to  be  elected 
by  the  senate  from  all 'political  parties,  shall  be  the  re- 
turning officers  for  all  elections  in  the  state,  a  majority  of 
whom  shall  constitute  a  quorum,  and  have  power  to 
make  the  returns  of  all  elections.  In  case  of  vacancy, 
by  death,  resignation  or  otherwise,  by  either  of  the 
board,  then  the  vacancy  shall  be  filled  by  the  residue  of 
the  board  of  returning  officers.'  The  present  board  con- 
sists of  only  four  members,  to  wit :  J.  Madison  Wells, 
T.  C.  Anderson,  G.  Casanave  and  Louis  M.  Kenner,  one 
of  whom,  T.  C.  Anderson,  was  a  candidate  for  the 
state  senate  at  the  recent  election  on  the  Republican 
ticket.  All  are  members  of  the  Republican  party.  They 
are  the  same  persons  who  constituted  the  returning  board 
in  1874,  and  canvassed  the  election  returns  of  that 
year,  and  of  whom  a  committee  of  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives of  the  United  States,  composed  of  Messrs. 
Hoar,  Wheeler,  Fry,  Foster,  Phelps,  Marshall  and  Pot- 
ter, after  careful  investigation  of  its  action,  said :  'We 
are  constrained  to  declare  that  the  action  of  the  return- 
ing board,  on  the  whole,  was  arbitrary,  unjust  and  in 
our  opinion  illegal.' 

"The  vacancy  in  the»  board,  occasioned  by  the  resig- 
nation of  Oscar  Arroyo,  in  December,  1874,  has  never 


414  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

been  filled,  although  repeated  applications  by  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Democratic  conservative  party  of  the 
state  and  its  candidates  have  been  made  to  the  board 
to  fill  the  same.  The  foregoing  committee  of  the  house 
of  representatives,  commenting  on  the  failure  of  the 
board  to  fill  the  vacancy  in  1874,  when  it  occurred, 
said :  'Your  committee  think  the  law  as  to  the  consti- 
tution of  the  board  was  not  complied  with.'  If  this 
view  be  correct,  the  board  is  not  so  constituted  as  to 
have  authority  to  act  at  all.  The  entire  clerical  force 
appointed  by  the  board  at  its  present  session  to  compile 
the  votes  cast  is  also  Republican,  and  the  board  refused  an 
application  to  appoint  any  clerk  or  to  allow  any  person 
of  the  opposite  party  to  be  present  to  witness  the  com- 
pilation, and  even  excluded  the  United  States  supervisors 
of  election  under  the  act  of  congr'ess. 

"The  laws  of  Louisiana  require  a  registration  of 
voters  every  two  years  by  officers  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  state — the  registration  to  commence  the  last 
Monday  of  August,  pending  the  general  election  in  Novem- 
ber. The  election  law  of  the  state  contains  the  follow- 
ing provisions  for  conducting  the  election,  making  re- 
turns, etc.,  to  wit : 

"Section  26.  Be  it  further  enacted,  etc.,  That  in  any 
parish,  precinct,  ward,  city  or  town  in  which,  during  the 
time  of  registration,  or  revision  of  registration,  or  on 
any  day  of  election,  there  shall  be  any  riot,  tumult,  acts 
of  violence,  intimidation  and  disturbance,  bribery  or 
corrupt  influences  shall  prevent  or  tend  to  prevent  a 
fair,  free,  peaceable  and  full  vote  of  all  the  qualified 
electors  of  said  parish,  precinct,  ward,  city  or  town,  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  the  commissioners  of  election,  if 
such  riot,  tumult,  acts  of  violence,  intimidation  and  dis- 
turbance, bribery  or  corrupt  influences,  occur  on  the  day 
of  election,  or  of  the  supervisors  of  registration  of  the  par- 
ish, if  they  occur  during  the  time  of  registration  or  re- 
vision of  registration,  and  make  in  duplicate  and  under 
oath  a  clear  and  full  statement  of  all  the  facts  relating 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  415 

thereto,  and  of  the  effect  produced  of  such  riot,  tumult, 
acts  of  violence,  intimidation  and  disturbance,  bribery  or 
corrupt  influences,  in  preventing  a  fair,  free  and  full  regis- 
tration or  election,  and  of  the  number  of  qualified  elect- 
ors deterred  by  such  riot,  tumult,  acts  of  violence,  in- 
timidation and  disturbance,  bribery  or  corrupt  influ- 
ences, from  registering  or  voting ;  which  statement  shall 
also  be  corroborated  under  oath  by  three  respectable 
citizens,  qualified  electors  of  the  parish.  "When  such 
statement  is  made  by  a  commissioner  of  election,  or  a 
supervisor  of  registration,  he  shall  forward  it  in  dupli- 
cate to  the  supervisor  of  registration  of  the  parish ;  if 
in  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  to  the  secretary  of  state,  one 
copy  of  which,  if  made  by  the  supervisor  of  registration, 
shall  be  forwarded  by  him  to  the  returning  officers  pro- 
vided for  in  section  2  of  this  act,  when  he  makes  the  re- 
turns of  the  election  in  his  parish.  His  copy  of  said 
statement  shall  be  so  annexed  to  his  returns  of  election, 
by  paste,  wax  or  some  adhesive  substance  that  the  same 
can  be  kept  together,  and  the  other  copy  the  supervisor 
of  registration  shall  deliver  to  the  clerk  of  the  court  of 
his  parish  for  the  use  of  the  district  attorney." 

"Section  13.  Be  it  further  enacted,  etc.,  That  it  shall 
be  the  duty  of  the  commissioners  of  election  at  each  poll 
or  voting  place  to  keep  a  list  of  the  names  of  all  persons 
voting  at  such  poll  or  voting  place,  which  list  shall  be 
numbered  from  one  to  the  end  ;  and  said  list  of  voters, 
with  their  names  and  numbers  as  aforesaid,  shall  be  signed 
and  sworn  to  as  correct  by  the  commissioners  immedi- 
ately on  closing  of  the  polls,  and  before  leaving  the  place, 
and  before  opening  of  the  box.  If  no  judge  or  justice 
of  the  peace,  or  other  person  authorized  to  administer 
such  oath,  be  present  to  do  so,  it  may  be  administered 
by  any  voter.  The  votes  shall  be  counted  by  the  com- 
missioners, at  each  voting  place,  immediately  after  clos- 
ing the  election  and  without  moving  the  boxes  from  the 
place  to  where  the  votes  were  received,  and  the  count 


416  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

must  be  done  in  the  presence  of  any  bystander  or  citizen 
who  may  be  present. 

"Tally-lists  shall  be  kept  of  the  count,  and  after  the 
count  the  ballots  counted  shall  be  put  back  into  the  box 
and  preserved  until  after  the  next  term  of  the  criminal 
or  district  court,  as  the  case  may  be  ;  and  in  the  parishes, 
except  Orleans,  the  commissioners  of  election,  or  any 
one  of  them  selected  for  the  purpose,  shall  carry  the  box 
and  deliver  it  to  the  clerk  of  the  district  court,  who  shall 
preserve  the  same  as  above  required ;  and  in  the  parish 
of  Orleans  the  box  shall  be  delivered  to  the  clerk  for  the 
first  district  court  for  the  parish  of  Orleans,  and  be  kept 
by  him  as  above  directed. 

"Section  43.  Be  it  further  enacted,  etc.,  That,  imme- 
diately upon  the  close  of  the  polls  on  the  day  of  election, 
the  commissioners  of  election  at  each  poll  shall  proceed 
to  count  the  votes,  as  provided  in  section  13  of  this  act ; 
and,  after  they  shall  have  so  counted  the  votes  and  made 
a  list  of  the  names  of  all  the  persons  voted  for,  and  the 
offices  for  which  they  were  voted  for,  and  the  number  of 
ballots  contained  in  the  box,  and  the  number  rejected 
and  the  reasons  therefor,  duplicates  of  such  lists  shall  be 
made  out,  signed  and  sworn  to  by  the  commissioners  of 
election  of  each  poll,  and  such  duplicate  lists  shall  be 
delivered,  one  to  the  supervisor  of  registration  of  the 
parish,  and  one  to  the  clerk  of  the  district  court  of  the 
parish,  and  in  the  parish  of  Orleans  to  the  secretary  of 
state,  by  one  or  all  of  said  commissioners,  in  person, 
within  twenty-four  hours  after  the  closing  of  the  polls. 

"It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  supervisors  of  registration, 
within  twenty-four  hours  after  the  receipt  of  all  the  re- 
turns for  the  different  polling  places,  to  consolidate  such 
returns  to  be  certified  as  correct  by  the  clerk  of  the  dis- 
trict court,  and  forward  the  consolidated  returns,  with 
the  originals  received  by  him,  to  the  returning  officers 
provided  for  in  section  2  of  this  act,  the  said  report  and 
returns  to  be  enclosed  in  an  envelope  of  strong  paper  or 
cloth,  securely  sealed,  and  forwarded  by  mail. 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  417 

"He  shall  forward  a  copy  of  any  statement  as  to  vio- 
lence or  disturbance,  bribery  or  corruption,  or  other  of- 
fenses specified  in  section  26  of  this  act,  if  any  there  be, 
together  with  all  the  memoranda  and  tally-lists  used  in 
making  the  count  and  statement  of  votes. 

"Section  2  declares:  That,  within  ten  days  after  the 
closing  of  the  election,  said  returning  officers  shall  meet 
in  New  Orleans  to  canvass  and  compile  the  statements 
of  votes  made  by  the  commissioners  of  election,  and 
make  returns  of  the  election  to  the  secretary  of  state. 
They  shall  continue  in  session  until  such  returns  have 
been  compiled.  The  presiding  officer  shall  at  such  meet- 
ing open,  in  the  presence  of  said  returning  officers,  the 
statements  of  the  commissioners  of  election,  and  the 
said  returning  officers  shall,  from  said  statements,  can- 
vass and  compile  the  returns  of  the  election  in  duplicate  ; 
one  copy  of  such  returns  they  shall  file  in  the  office  of 
the  secretary  of  state,  and  of  one  copy  they  shall  make 
public  proclamation  by  printing  in  the  official  journal 
and  such  other  newspapers  as  they  may  deem  proper, 
declaring  the  names  of  all  persons  voted  for,  the  number 
of  votes  for  each  person  and  the  names  of  the  persons 
who  have  been  duly  and  lawfully  elected.  The  returns 
of  the  election  thus  made  and  promulgated  shall  be  prima, 
facie  evidence  in  all  courts  of  justice  before  civil  officers, 
until  set  aside  after  a  contest,  according  to  law,  of  the 
right  of  any  person  named  therein  to  hold  and  exercise 
the  office  to  which  he  shall  by  such  return  be  declared 
elected.  The  governor  shall,  within  thirty  days  there- 
after, issue  commissions  to  all  officers  thus  declared 
elected  who  are  required  by  law  to  be  commissioned. 

"Section  2.  Be  it  further  enacted,  etc.,  That  in  any 
such  canvass  and  compilation  the  returning  officers  shall 
observe  the  following  order :  they  shall  compile,  first, 
the  statements  from  all  polls  or  voting  places  at  which 
there  shall  have  been  a  fair,  free  and  peaceable  registra- 
tion and  election.  Whenever,  from  any  poll  or  voting 
27 


418  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

place  there  shall  be  received  the  statement  of  any  super- 
visor of  registration  or  commissioner  of  "election  in  form 
as  required  by  section  26  of  this  act,  on  affidavit  of  three 
or  more  citizens  of  any  riot,  tumult,  acts  of  violence,  in- 
timidation, armed  disturbance,  bribery  or  corrupt  influ- 
ences which  prevented  or  tended  to  prevent,  a  fair, 
free  and  peaceable  vote  of  all  qualified  electors  entitled 
to  vote  at  such  poll  or  voting  place,  such  returning  offi- 
cers shall  not  canvass,  count  or  compile  the  statement 
of  votes  from  such  poll  or  voting  place  until  the  state- 
ments from  all  other  polls  or  voting  places  shall  hate 
been  canvassed  or  compiled.  The  returning  officers 
shall  then  proceed  to  investigate  the  statements  of  riot, 
tumult,  acts  of  violence,  intimidation,  armed  disturb- 
ance, bribery  or  corrupt  influences  at  any  such  poll  or 
voting  place  ;  and  if  from  the  evidence  of  such  statement 
they  shall  be  convinced  that  such  riot,  tumult,  acts  of 
violence,  intimidation,  armed  disturbance,  bribery  or 
corrupt  influences  did  not  materially  interfere  with  the 
purity  and  freedom  of  the  election  at  such  poll  or  voting 
place,  or  did  not  prevent  a  sufficient  number  of  qualified 
voters  from  registering  or  voting  to  materially  change 
the  result  of  the  election,  then  and  not  otherwise,  said  re- 
turning officers  shall  canvass  and  compile  the  vote  of 
such  poll  or  voting  place  with  those  previously  canvassed 
and  compiled  ;  but  if  said  returning  officers  shall  not  be 
fully  satisfied  thereof,  it  shall  be  their  duty  to  examine 
further  testimony  in  regard  thereto,  and  to  this  end 
they  shall  have  power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers. 

"If,  after  such  examination,  the  said  returning  officers 
shall  be  convinced  that  said  riot,  tumult,  or  act  of 
violence,  intimidation,  armed  disturbance,  bribery  or  cor- 
rupt influences  did  materially  interfere  with  the  purity 
and  freedom  of  the  election  at  such  poll  or  voting  place, 
or  did  prevent  a  sufficient  number  of  qualified  voters 
thereat  from  registering  and  voting  to  materially  change 
the  result  of  the  election,  then  the  said  returning  officers 
shall  not  canvass  or  compile  the  statement  of  the  votes  of 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  419 

such  poll  or  voting  place,  but  shall  exclude  it  from  their 
returns ;  provided,  that  any  person  interested  in  said 
election  by  reason  of  being  a  candidate  for  office,  shall 
be  allowed  a  hearing  before  said  returning  officers  upon 
making  application  within  the  time  allowed  for  the  for- 
warding of  the  returns  of  said  election. 

"Under  section  2  of  the  foregoing  provisions,  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  duty  of  the  board  of  returning  officers  is 
similar  to  that  of  state  canvassing  boards  in  most  of  the 
other  states  of  the  Union,  simply  'to  canvass  and  com- 
pile the  statements  of  the  commissioners  of  election,'  and 
proclaim  the  result,  and  this  is  the  whole  duty  of  the 
returning  board,  unless  the  commissioners  of  election  or 
the  supervisor  of  some  parish  imposes  upon  it  a  further 
duty,  as  provided  in  sections  26  and  43.  In  commenting 
upon  the  powers  of  the  returning  board  we  avail  our- 
selves of  the  able  argument  of  Judge  Spofford  made  be- 
fore it.  'No  one  has  the  right  to  attack  the  returns  from 
any  poll,  ward  or  parish  in  the  state  on  account  of  undue 
influence,  intimidation  or  other  acts  of  violence,  unless 
the  foundation  therefor  be  first  laid  by  the  statement  of 
the  commissioners  of  election  at  the  particular  poll,  if 
the  acts  occurred  on  election  day  ;  or  of  the  supervisors 
of  registration  of  the  parish  if  they  occurred  during 
registration,  as  provided  in  sections  26  and  43.  The 
board  has  no  legal  authority  to  receive  or  give  effect  to 
statements  of  outside  parties  till  the  proper  commission- 
ers of  election  and  supervisor  have  spoken.  Nor  has  the 
board  been  invested  with  power  to  institute  complaints 
against  any  poll  ex  officio,  or  of  its  own  motion.  It  cannot 
blot  out  or  fail  to  count  a  solitary  vote  returned,  unless  a 
legal  foundation  has  been  laid  for  inquiry  by  the  supervisor 
of  the  parish  where  the  vote  was  cast,  or  by  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners of  election  reporting  through  such  supervisor;  and 
even  they,  the  supervisor  and  commissioners,  can  only 
lay  a  foundation  for  inquiry  in  the  board  by  making  and 
forwarding,  in  the  prescribed  manner,  their  official 
"statements"  contemporaneously  with  their  returns,  and 


420  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

in  the  very  form  set  forth  by  section  26  of  the  act  in 
question,  challenging  the  votes  of  whole  cities  and 
parishes  by  unofficial  persons,  even  though  they  are  can- 
didates, is  a  startling  and  lawless  innovation.' 

"No  outside  protest  can  be  entertained,  because  even 
a  supervisor's  'statement'  can  receive  no  consideration  by 
the  board,  but  must  be  wholly  disregarded,  unless  made 
at  a  time  and  in  a  manner  which  no  outside  party  could 
possibly  comply  with. 

"His  'statement*  (or  that  of  his  subordinate  commis- 
sioner) must  form  an  integral  part  of  his  return  and 
official  report ;  it  cannot  be  made  up  at  a  different  time 
and  place  from  the  return,  to  which  the  law  requires  it 
to  be  attached  'by  paste,  wax  or  some  other  adhesive  sub- 
stance,' and  a  duplicate  thereto  must  be  lodged  by  him 
with  the  clerk  of  the  court  of  his  parish;  it  must  be  made 
under  oath  ;  it  must  be  a  clear  and  full  statement  of  all 
the  facts  and  of  the  effect  produced  thereby.  Such  a 
statement,  so  annexed  and  sent  by  mail,  is  the  only  kind 
of  statement  the  board  can  notice  at  all  so  as  to  institute 
an  inquiry  into  intimidation,  etc. 

"The  intent  of  the  law  is  plain  and  indisputable,  that 
all  the  supervisors  should  be  engaged  simultaneously  in 
the  several  parishes  in  completing  their  returns  and  state- 
ments on  the  spot  where  the  election  was  held,  without 
communication  with  each  other  or  with  persons  beyond 
the  parish,  and  before  they  can  obtain  information  of 
what  has  been  done  in  other  parishes  or  of  the  general 
result.  And  the  reason  for  these  minute,  mandatory  and 
imperative  provisions  is  equally  obvious. 

"It  was  precisely  to  shut  out  from  consideration  by 
the  returning  board  all  such  ex  post  facto  complaints  as 
have  been  trumped  up  and  illegally  thrust  in  here  at  the 
last  moment  by  Mr.  Kellogg,  Mr.  Packard  and  Mr. 
Brewster,  and  even  by  some  of  the  supervisors  themr 
selves. 

"The  law  has  not  been  complied  with ;  most  of  the 
supervisors  who  have  put  in  complaints  have  not  written 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  421 

them  at  the  proper  time  and  proper  parish  ;  they  have 
not  annexed  them  to  the  returns,  sealed  and  sent  them 
by  mail ;  they  have  brought  down  their  returns  to  this 
city  with  no  statement  so  annexed,  but  have  patched  up 
statements  here  at  an  improper  time  and  in  an  improper 
place.  They  could  only  fulfill  their  duties  according  to 
law  by  finishing  their  returns,  attached  statements  and 
all,  and  mailing  them,  sealed  in  one  envelope,  at  one  of 
their  parish  postoffices  within  the  time  required  by  law. 
It  is  appalling  to  think  that  statements  thus  made  con- 
trary to  law,  after  the  result  of  the  election  throughout 
the  state  was  known  with  approximate  accuracy,  made 
as  an  afterthought  by  disappointed  candidates  and  their 
friends  with  an  evident  view  to  cast  a  drag-net  of  sus- 
picion over  parishes  enough  to  reverse  the  emphatic  ver- 
dict of  the  people — made,  too,  at  so  late  a  day  and  so 
great  a  distance  from  many  of  the  parishes  struck  at, 
that  it  is  impossible  to  have  any  fair  investigation  or 
that  they  should  receive  consideration. 

"Commenting  on  the  foregoing  provisions  of  the 
Louisiana  statute,  Messrs.  Geo.  F.  Hoar,  W.  A.  Wheeler 
and  W.  P.  Fry,  in  their  report  made  February  23,  1875, 
said  :  'Upon  this  statute,  we  are  all  clearly  of  opinion 
that  the  returning  board  has  no  right  to  do  anything  ex- 
cept to  canvass  and  complete  the  returns  which  were 
lawfully  made  to  them  by  local  officers,  except  in  cases 
where  they  are  accompanied  by  the  certificates  of  the 
supervisor  or  commissioner,  provided  in  the  third  section. 
In  such  cases,  the  last  sentence  of  that  section  shows 
that  it  was  expected  that  they  would  ordinarily  exercise 
the  grave  and  delicate  duty  of  investigating  charges  of 
riot,  tumult,  bribery  or  corruption  on  a  hearing  of  the 
parties  interested  in  the  office.  It  never  could  have  been 
meant  that  this  board,  of  its  own  motion,  sitting  in  New 
Orleans,  at  a  distance  from  the  place  of  voting  and  with- 
out notice,  could  decide  the  right  of  persons  claiming  to 
be  elected.  .  .  .  There  is  no  more  dangerous  form 
of  self-delusion  than  that  which  induces  men  in  high 


422  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

places  of  public  trust  to  violate  law,  to  redress  or  prevent 
what  they  deem  public  wrongs.' 

"These  references  to  the  report  of  the  congressional 
committee  upon  the  action  of  this  same  returning  board 
in  1874,  and  its  constructions  of  the  statute  are  made 
that  the  public  may  know  how  this  board  and  its 
rulings  were  regarded  by  prominent  gentlemen,  one 
of  them  a  candidate  for  vice-president  at  the  recent 
election,  at  a  time  when  its  decision  did  not  affect  a 
presidential  election. 

"We  regard  it  as  indisputable  that  the  returning 
board  has  no  jurisdiction  to  inquire  into  and  reject  the 
returns  from  any  voting  place  in  the  state  on  account 
of  intimidation,  acts  of  violence,  or  other  cause  men- 
tioned in  the  statute,  unless  the  foundation  for  such  in- 
quiry and  rejection  is  laid  at  the  time  and  in  the  man- 
ner provided  in  the  statute. 

"In  no  case  did  the  supervisor  of  registration  deliver 
to  the  clerk  of  the  court  of  his  parish,  as  required  by 
section  26,  a  duplicate  statement,  made  and  sworn  to 
by  the  commissioners  of  elections  and  corroborated  by 
three  citizens,  of  any  riot,  acts  of  violence,  intimidation 
and  disturbance,  bribery  and  corrupt  influences,  and  of 
the  facts  relating  thereto  occurring  on  the  day  of  elec- 
tion, nor  any  like  statement  of  his  own  that  any  such 
acts  occurred  during  the  time  of  registration  or  the  re- 
vision of  registration.  When  the  returns  were  opened 
by  the  returning  board  such  statements  were  found  among 
the  papers  in  a  few  instances,  but  not  in  relation  to  the 
parishes  of  Ouachita,  Morehouse,  East  Baton  Rouge, 
East  or  West  Feliciana,  and  such  were  the  manifest 
efforts  on  the  part  of  officers  of  elections  to  conceal  their 
acts  and  confuse  and  mislead  persons  interested  in  a 
proper  investigation  of  the  facts  relating  to  the  election, 
that  it  was  impossible  to  determine  whether  any  such 
statement  had  been  made  by  the  commissioners  of  elec- 
tion or  the  supervisor  of  registration,  and  attached  to 
the  returns  of  the  supervisor  in  any  parish  in  the  state 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  423 

at  the  time  and  in  the  manner  required  in  sections  26 
and  43. 

"This  fact  leaves  the  returning  board  without  juris- 
diction to  inquire  into  the  acts  of  violence,  etc.,  at  the 
election  or  during  registration,  and  with  no  other  duty 
to  perform  except  to  canvass  and  compile  the  votes  re- 
turned, as  the  returning  officers  of  any  other  state  would 
do  :  and  as  the  returns  opened  by  them  show  a  majority 
for  the  Tilden  electors,  it  ought  to  be  an  end  to  all  con- 
troversy on  the  subject. 

"But  as  the  board  in  the  face  of  these  facts  has  come 
to  the  extraordinary  conclusion,  to  declare  that  the 
Hayes  electors  have  a  majority,  it  is  proper  to  look 
further  into  its  action. 

"The  first  meeting  of  the  board  attended  by  us  was 
held  November  20th,  at  which  an  application  in  behalf 
of  the  candidates  on  the  Democratic-conservative  ticket 
that  all  the  proceedings  of  the  board  should  be  public, 
and  that  interested  candidates  should  have  leave  to  be 
present,  by  themselves  or  counsel,  at  the  opening  of  the 
returns,  with  the  right  to  inspect  the  same,  was  refused, 
and  certain  rules  were  adopted,  against  several  of  which 
protests  were  filed,  and  particularly  against  rule  nine, 
which  declared  that :  (9)  'No  ex  parte  affidavits  or  state- 
ments shall  be  received  in  evidence  except  as  a  basis  to 
show  that  such  fraud,  intimidation,  or  other  illegal 
practice  had  at  some  poll,  requires  investigation ;  but 
the  returns  and  affidavits  authorized  by  law  made  by 
officers  of  election,  or  in  verification  of  statements  as 
required  by  law,  shall  be  received  in  evidence  as  prima 
facie.' 

"Under  that  rule  several  hundred  ex  parte  affidavits 
were  prepared  and  sworn  to  in  New  Orleans  charging 
intimidation  and  other  illegal  acts  in  distant  parishes, 
were  then  put  into  the  envelope  enclosing  the  super- 
visor's consolidated  returns,  which  had  been  brought  to 
the  city  of  New  Orleans  and  kept  open  for  the  purpose. 
This  was  done  to  support  statements  of  intimidation  or 


424  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

other  illegal  acts  interpolated  by  supervisors  long  after 
their  consolidated  returns  had  been  made  out  and  sworn 
to  as  correct,  and  had  been  filed  with  the  proper  district 
clerk  without  any  protest  or  allegation  of  intimidation  or 
other  acts  of  violence. 

"The  proceedings  of  the  board  in  executive  session,  to 
which  we  were  admitted,  consisted  in  opening  the  re- 
turns from  each  parish  and  examining  the  votes  for 
presidential  electors.  If  no  protest  or  objection  ap- 
peared among  the  papers  and  there  was  no  outside 
protest  from  any  one,  the  returns  were  sent  to  a  private 
room  to  be  tabulated  by  the  clerks,  all  of  whom  were 
Republicans,  who  kept  their  action  secret. 

"If  any  protest  was  found  among  the  papers  or  from 
outside  parties,  the  returns  were  laid  aside,  to  be  after- 
wards considered  by  the  board  in  secret. 

"In  the  few  cases  in  which  there  were  charges  of 
fraud,  intimidation  or  other  illegal  acts,  the  candidates, 
or  their  attorneys,  were  permitted  to  take  copies  of  the 
charges,  and  testimony  taken  on  written  interrogatories 
was  submitted  in  regard  to  such  parishes. 

"On  December  2d,  after  all  the  returns  had  been 
opened,  the  board  went  into  secret  session,  and  we  were 
not  permitted  to  see  the  compilations  of  returns  already 
made,  nor  to  know  what  rules  the  board  adopted  in  pass- 
ing upon  contested  cases,  nor  the  processes  by  which  it 
arrived  at  results.  We  have  been  furnished  a  triplicate, 
or  a  certified  copy  of  the  duplicate  statement  of  the 
commissioners  of  election  at  each  voting  place  in  the 
state,  from  which  has  been  compiled  a  consolidated  state- 
ment of  the  entire  vote  of  the  state  for  presidential 
electors. 

"From  this  statement,  which  we  believe  to  be  accurate, 
the  majority  for  the  highest  Tilden  elector  over  the  low- 
est Hayes  elector,  is  8,957,  and  the  majority  for  the  low- 
est Tilden  elector  over  the  highest  Hayes  elector  is 
6,300.  The  returns  in  our  possession  correspond  pre- 
cisely in  most  cases  with  those  opened  by  the  returning 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  425 

board.  The  difference  in  the  aggregate  arises  mainly 
from  the  fact  that  the  board  did  not  have  all  the  returns 
before  it. 

"The  supervisors,  all  of  whom  were  Republicans, 
many  of  them  employed  in  the  custom-house  at  New 
Orleans,  some  nonresidents  of  the  state,  and  one  of  them 
under  indictment  for  murder,  withheld  the  statements 
of  the  commissioners  of  election,  in  some  instances 
where  Democratic  majorities  were  given,  amounting  in 
the  aggregate  to  about  1,500  votes. 

"The  returning  board  refused  to  receive  certified  cop- 
ies of  the  duplicates  of  these  missing  returns  filed  in 
the  offices  of  the  secretary  of  state,  and  the  clerks  of 
the  district  courts,  or  to  take  any  effective  measures  to 
procure  the  originals. 

"The  returning  board,  in  proclaiming  the  result  of 
the  vote  for  electors  makes  no  statement  of  the  votes 
cast  in  the  several  parishes,  but  simply  announces  the 
aggregate  vote  for  each  elector  in  the  state  giving  the 
Hayes  electors  majorities  varying  from  4,626  to  4,712. 
To  accomplish  this,  they  disfranchise  13,350  Democratic 
and  2,042  Republican  voters. 

"This  announcement  is  made  in  the  face  of  the  fact 
that  the  statements  made  by  the  commissioners  of  elec- 
tion showed  a  majority  ranging  from  6,300  to  8,957  for 
the  Tilden  electors. 

"No  attempt  is  made  to  give  a  reason  for  this  arbi- 
trary action  of  the  board,  nor  is  there  any  statement  to 
show  what  votes  were  counted  and  what  rejected.  As 
well  might  the  officers  canvassing  the  returns  for  pres- 
idential electors  in  Ohio  or  Massachusetts  declare  the 
Tilden  electors  in  those  states  elected,  in  the  face  of  the 
fact  that  the  returns  showed  a  majority  for  the  Hayes 
electors.  We  have  shown  that  it  is  questionable  whether 
the  legislature  of  Louisiana  has  made  provision  for  the 
appointment  of  electors  at  all ;  that  if  it  has  made  such 
provision  it  has  not  vested  the  returning  board  with 


426  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

authority  to  canvass  the  returns  of  the  votes  cast  for 
such  officers  ;  and  that  if  it  were  possible  to  construe  the 
statute  as  conferring  such  authority  on  the  returning 
board,  then  the  statute  limits  the  authority  of  the  board 
to  the  canvass  and  compilation  of  the  'statements  of 
votes  made  by  the  commissioners  of  elections,'  without 
authority  to  reject  any  on  account  of  intimidation  or/ 
other  acts  of  violence,  unless  the  foundation  therefor 
be  first  laid  as  provided  in  the  statute  ;  that  the  evidence 
does  not  disclose  that  such  foundation  was  laid  in  any 
instance. 

"There  is,  however,  evidence  of  attempts,  surrepti- 
tiously, to  lay  such  foundation  after  the  consolidated  re- 
turns were  completed,  and  that  the  supervisors  of  elec- 
tion, in  many  instances,  unlawfully  withheld  returns  for 
that  purpose,  and  interpolated  among  them  ex  parte  affi- 
davits taken  in  secret  in  New  Orleans  before  a  United 
States  commissioner,  which  the  board  has  no  jurisdic- 
tion to  consider. 

"The  evidence  taken  on  both  sides,  so  far  as  it  has 
been  accessible  to  us,  discloses  a  state  of  lawlessness  in 
certain  parishes,  not  in  the  state  generally,  about  the 
cause  of  which  parties  are  not  agreed. 

"The  Democrats  attribute  it  to  the  inefficiency  and 
imbecility  of  the  state  government,  which  they  allege  to 
be  a  usurpation,  resting  wholly  for  support  upon  the 
federal  army,  without  the  confidence  or  respect  of  the 
people,  and  without  the  disposition  to  prevent  or  punish 
crime,  which  they  can  pervert  to  political  uses.  Such  a 
state  of  things,  as  might  be  expected  has  led  to  disorder, 
and  in  some  instances  to  the  most  shocking  barbarities. 
The  Republicans,  on  the  other  hand,  attribute  the  law- 
lessness to  the  hostility  of  the  white  against  the  colored 
race,  and  as  largely  due  to  politics.  The  murders  and  out- 
rages which  have  been  brought  to  our  notice  are  frequently 
committed  by  persons  of  the  same  race  upon  each  other, 
and  in  a  large  majority  of  cases  have  no  political  signifi- 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  427 

cauce.  Many  such  cases  were  brought  to  the  notice  of 
the  board  by  ex  parte  affidavits,  without  regard  to  the 
time  of  their  occurrence,  and  when  they  did  not  have 
the  slightest  connection  with  the  recent  election. 
Strangely  enough,  it  is  assumed  by  the  Republicans,  who 
have  had  complete  control  of  the  state  government  for 
years,  that  if  they  could  show  that  lawlessness  prevailed 
in  certain  localities,  and  that  crime  went  unpunished, 
that  those  facts  furnished  a  reason  why  they  should  be 
continued  in  power,  notwithstanding  the  large  majority 
of  ballots  cast  against  them. 

"Another  assumption  of  the  Republicans  is,  that  all 
the  colored  men  in  the  state  are  necessarily  Republicans. 
We  were  visited  by  a  large  number  of  colored  persons 
from  all  parts  of  the  state,  including  the  alleged  dis- 
turbed districts,  who  made  speeches  and  took  an  active 
part  in  the  active  canvass  in  favor  of  the  Democratic 
ticket,  and  who  gave,  among  other  reasons  for  so  doing, 
that  they  had  been  deceived  by  the  Republican  officials 
who  had  proved  dishonest  and  corrupt,  had  robbed 
them  of  their  school  money,  and  burdened  -them  with 
unnecessary  taxes,  and  that  they  believed  it  for  the  in- 
terest of  the  colored  race  to  unite  their  fortunes  with  the 
whites,  whose  interests,  like  their  own,  were  identified 
with  the  state.  It  is  certain  that  thousands  of  colored 
persons  voluntarily  and  actively  supported  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket.  The  entire  vote  of  the  state,  at  the  recent 
election,  is  about  15,000  greater  than  ever  before,  and 
even  in  the  parishes  where  intimidation  is  charged,  it 
exceeds  in  the  aggregate  any  previous  vote. 

"The  congressional  committee  which  it  is  understood 
will  soon  visit  the  state  armed  with  authority  to  send  for 
persons  and  papers,  and  inquire  into  all  the  facts  con- 
nected with  the  recent  election  and  the  action  of  the  re- 
turning board,  will  have  greater  facilities  for  arriving  at 
the  truth  than  we  possess,  but  with  the  law  and  such 
facts  before  us  as  have  been  disclosed  by  the  action  of 


428  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  returning  board,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  declare  that 
its  proceedings,  as  witnessed  by  us,  were  partial  and  un- 
fair, and  that  the  result  it  has  announced  is  arbitrary 
and  illegal  and  entitled  to  no  respect  whatever. 

"Fifteen  years  ago,  when  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon 
by  men  who  sought  a  disruption  of  the  Union,  a  million 
patriots,  without  regard  to  party  affiliations,  sprang  to 
its  defense.  Will  the  same  patriot  citizens  now  sit  idly 
by  and  see  representative  governments  overthrown  by 
usurpation  and  fraud?  Shall  the  will  of  forty  millions 
of  people  constitutionally  expressed  be  thwarted  by  the 
corrupt,  arbitrary  and  illegal  action  of  an  illegally  con- 
stituted returning  board  in  Louisiana,  whose  wrongful 
actions  heretofore,  in  all  respects  similar  to  its  present 
action,  has  been  condemned  by  all  parties? 

"It  is  an  admitted  fact  that  Mr.  Tilden  received  a  ma- 
jority of  a  quarter  of  a  million  votes  at  the  recent  elec- 
tion. This  majority  is  ready  and  willing  to  submit  to 
the  minority  when  constitutionally  entitled  to  demand 
such  submission,  but  it  is  unwilling  by  an  arbitrary  and 
false  declaration  of  votes  in  Louisiana  that  the  minority 
shall  usurp  power? 

"These  are  dark  days  for  the  American  people,  when 
such  questions  are  forced  upon  their  consideration.  If 
it  were  true,  as  some  insist,  that  neither  the  white  nor 
the  colored  voters  have  in  all  instances  been  afforded  an 
opportunity  to  give  free  expression  to  their  wishes  at  the 
ballot-box,  shall  we,  by  sustaining  a  fraudulent  and  il- 
legal declaration  of  the  votes  cast,  stifle  the  voice  of  the 
millions  of  voters  who  have  freely  expressed  their  choice, 
and  thus  seek  to  correct  a  great  wrong  by  committing 
another  immeasurbly  greater  wrong? 

"Can  we  sanction  such  action  of  the  Louisiana  return- 
ing board,  and  thereby  form  a  precedent  under  which  a 
party  once  in  power  may  forever  perpetuate  its  rule,  and 
so  end  constitutional  liberty? 

"Shall  such  be  the  fate  of  this  republic  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  second  century  of  its  existence,  is  the 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  429 

momentous  question  now  presented  for  the  determina- 
tion of  the  American  people? 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER, 
"LYMAN  TRUMBULL, 
"GEORGE  B.  SMITH, 
"GEORGE  W.  JULIAN, 
"P.  H.  WATSON. 
"NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.,  Dec.  6,  1876." 

The  Louisiana  returning  board  was,  from  its  defective 
organization  and  the  animus  of  its  members,  incapable 
of  rendering  a  fair  decision,  and,  when  it  came  to  the 
declaration  of  General  Nichols,  as  governor  of  the  State 
of  Louisiana,  President  Hayes  conceded  the  whole  ques- 
tion. 

The  president  appointed  Charles  B.  Lawrence,  Wayne 
McVeigh,  John  M.  Harlan,  Joseph  R.  Hawley  and  John 
C.  Brown  as  commissioners  to  Louisiana,  and,  upon 
their  report,  support  from  Mr.  Packard  was  withdrawn, 
and  Francis  T.  Nichols  was  declared  governor  of  the 
state.  Packard  had  substantially  the  same  vote  that 
Hayes  had.  Mr.  Hayes  got  the  electoral  votes  of  Louis- 
iana, and  was  declared  by  the  "eight-to-seven"  commis- 
sion to  be  the  president  of  the  United  States.  No  founda- 
tion was  laid  for  the  impeachment  of  the  returns  by  the 
board,  even  if  the  right  to  go  behind  them  was  con- 
ceded. 

There  is  nothing  clearer  than  that  the  returning  board 
was  prejudiced  and  transcended  its  authority,  and  that 
Mr.  Tilden  was  entitled  to  the  electoral  votes  of  Louis- 
iana. 

On  January  12,  1877,  I  was  nominated  as  a  candidate 
for  a  seat  in  the  United  States  senate.  I  said,  upon  the 
occasion  of  my  nomination  : 

"While  I  have  as  much  ambition  as  any  man  ought 
to  have,  I  have  always  regarded  it  as  the  right  of  the 
people,  without  pressure  from  without,  to  choose  those 
whom  they  desire  to  occupy  the  great  offices  of  the  coun- 


430  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

try.  A  seat  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States  is  an  ob- 
ject worthy  of  the  ambition  of  any  man,  yet  a  seat  in 
that  great  and  illustrious  body  is  worth  nothing  unless 
the  man  who  is  elected  has  the  confidence  of  those  who 
elected  him.  To  obtain  such  a  place  by  any  means  not 
consistent  with  the  most  perfect  fairness  and  candor, 
would  make  the  place  not  one  of  honor,  but  one  of  in- 
famy. You  have  placed  me  in  nomination  as  your  can- 
didate for  senator ;  you  have  not  promised  to  elect  me, 
and  I  have  no  right  to  expect  that  you  will.  You  have 
given  me  this  expression  of  your  confidence,  and,  now, 
all  I  ask  of  you  is  to  take  part  with  me  in  what  shall  be 
pre-eminently  a  fair  fight. 

"The  Republican  party  have  placed  in  nomination 
John  A.  Logan,  who,  in  my  judgment — without  saying 
anything  discourteous,  or  without  meaning  to  compli- 
ment the  gentleman — is  the  fittest  representative  of  Re- 
publicanism as  it  is  to-day.  He  is  here  backed  by  the 
patronage  of  the  Federal  government.  I  have  seen  men 
who  were  paid  by  your  money  and  mine  in  the  lobbies 
insisting  on  the  selection  of  the  man  to  whom  they  were 
indebted  for  their  places.  I  suppose  the  patronage  of 
the  state  government  will  be  employed  in  his  election. 
So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  and  so  far  as  you  are  con- 
cerned, we  have  nothing  to  offer  in  the  way  of  patronage 
or  place.  They,  even  after  we  have  elected  a  president, 
by  the  votes  of  the  people,  have  cheated  us  out  of  the 
election.  Governments  are  created  for  the  benefit  of  the 
governed.  .  .  . 

"There  are  millions  of  men,  women  and  children, 
who,  in  the  morning,  when  they  arise  from  their  beds, 
pray  to  Our  Father,  'Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread  ;' 
the  want  of  the  people  is  peace  and  free  and  untram- 
meled  industry,  that  honest  men  and  women  may  earn 
their  bread.  The  policy  of  the  government  should  be  so 
directed  as  to  enable  these  hungry  ones  to  obtain  it ;  the 
mission  of  the  government  is  the  welfare  of  its  people. 

"Of  course,  gentlemen,  you  all  know  what  my  opinions 


ELECTORAL  COUNT  IN  LOUISIANA  IN  1876.  431 

are  upon  almost  every  public  question.  "While  I  was 
governor  of  the  state,  my  messages  were  delivered  to  the 
general  assembly,  giving  my  views  in  regard  to  all  the 
great  questions  that  then  interested  the  public  mind  ;  my 
opinions  are  unchanged.  If  you  should  elect  me,  what- 
ever I  can  do  to  advance  those  opinions  will  be  done ; 
they  are  in  harmony  with  yours  ;  they  are  to  encourage 
the  industry  of  the  country  and  to  remove  the  burdens 
from  those  industries. 

"The  president  and  the  governor  are  but  magistrates 
to  execute  the  constitution  and  the  laws,  and  each  citi- 
zen owes  obedience  to  the  laws  and  to  no  other  au- 
thority on  earth. 

"I  thank  you  again,  but  I  shall  ask  now  nothing  of 
you  but  to  consider  the  question  after  you  have  looked 
the  whole  field  over.  Is  it  better  that  you  shall  elect  me 
to  the  United  States  senate,  or  that  you  shall  elect  some 
one  of  the  distinguished  gentlemen  who  have  been  named 
by  other  parties?  If,  after  you  shall  have  given  the  sub- 
ject your  careful  attention,  you  shall  conclude  that  the 
public  welfare,  the  welfare  of  the  country  that  we  love 
so  well,  and  the  government  under  which  we  have  en- 
joyed so  much  liberty  and  happiness,  will  be  best  pro- 
moted by  the  election  of  one  of  them,  you  owe  me  no 
duty — your  duty  is  to  your  country.  You  owe  me  noth- 
ing. I  can  promise  but  one  thing,  and  that  is,  that  the 
people  of  this  state,  and  of  this  whole  country,  white 
and  black,  rich  and  poor,  shall  have  my  earnest,  indus- 
trious and  faithful  services  to  the  extent  of  that  ability 
with  which  the  Almighty  has  endowed  me." 

After  twenty-one  ballots,  in  which  I  received  all  the 
votes  the  Democratic  party  could  command,  I  withdrew 
in  favor  of  General  W.  B.  Anderson,  who  had  served  as 
colonel  of  the  60th  Illinois  Infantry.  There  was  still  an 
obstinate  interest  which  refused  to  vote  for  me,  or  for 
General  Anderson,  which  succeeded  in  finally  electing 
Judge  David  Davis,  as  senator  in  the  congress  of  the 
United  States. 


432  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Speech  of  welcome  to  General  Grant — His  reply — Obsequies  of  Hon. 
David  Davis  and  General  John  A.  Logan. 

On  May  5,  1880,  General  U.  S.  Grant  was  received  by 
the  citizens  of  Springfield  on  Ms  return  from  a  trip 
around  the  world.  "Suitable  ceremonies  were  observed 
at  the  governor's  residence,  and  General  Grant  was  es- 
corted from  there  to  the  state  house  grounds  at  IP.  M., 
accompanied  by  Governor  Cullom,  Senator  Oglesby, 
Hon.  Milton  Hay,  Governor  Palmer,  Hon.  J.L.  D.  Mor- 
rison, state  and  city  officers,  many  public  men  and  a 
suitable  escort." 

The  following  address  of  welcome  was  delivered  by 
me  according  to  the  agreement  of  the  reception  com- 
mittee : 

"GENERAL — I  have  been  appointed  by  my  fellow- 
citizens  of  Springfield  to  welcome  you  to  the  city.  They 
do  not  suppose  that  you  require  this  evidence  of  their 
respect  or  affection  for  you,  nor  have  they  charged  me 
with  the  whole  duty  of  making  you  welcome.  In  direct- 
ing me  to  address  you  in  this  formal  manner  on  their 
behalf,  they  propose  no  more  than  to  conform  to  a  social 
custom,  while  they  are  eager  to  take  you  by  the  hand 
and  for  themselves  express  the  happiness  they  feel  in 
meeting  you. 

"General,  the  most  of  those  present  to-day  only  know 
you  as  a  successful  military  leader  whose  name  is  a 
household  word,  and  to  whom  the  country  is  indebted 
for  distinguished  and  patriotic  services,  and,  as  the  chief 
magistrate  of  the  republic,  charged  with  the  administra- 
tion of  its  laws  and  the  guidance  of  its  policy  during  a 
most  important  and  interesting  period  of  its  national  his- 
tory. They  honor  you  because,  during  the  civil  war, 
you  never  doubted  but  that  the  patriotism,  the  courage 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS— JOHN  A.  LOGAN.  433 

and  the  endurance  of  the  American  people  would  pre- 
serve the  Union  and  re-establish  the  authority  of  the 
constitution  and  the  laws,  nor  in  peace  that  their  in- 
tegrity, industry  and  economy  would  maintain  the  pub- 
lic credit  and  restore  national  and  individual  prosperity. 
The  opinions  of  your  countrymen  credit  you  with  being 
governed  during  your  public  life  by  two  maxims  as  sim- 
ple as  profound  :  'In  war,  march  and  fight — in  peace, 
earn  and  pay.'  These  maxims  are  too  stern  and  simple 
to  find  ready  acceptance  with  holiday  soldiers  or  fanciful 
economists,  but  the  present  situation  of  the  country 
proves  that  they  embody  the  vital  elements  of  military 
and  financial  science. 

"But  there  are  many  present  who  know  and  remember 
you  as  their  comrade  and  leader  during  the  weary  yea.rs 
of  the  war,  when  the  eyes  of  the  civilized  world  were 
upon  them  and  upon  you,  and  when  the  unity  of  the  re- 
public and  the  existence  of  constitutional  government 
and  popular  liberty  on  this  continent  seemed  to  depend 
upon  their  patriotism  and  courage,  guided  by  your  wis- 
dom and  skill  and  supported  by  your  never-faltering 
firmness.  In  the  darkest  hour  of  the  struggle,  General, 
your  officers  and  soldiers  never  distrusted  you.  They 
knew  that  you  would  'fight  it  out  on  that  line'  and  on  all 
the  lines  until  the  arms  of  the  republic  were  triumphant 
and  its  flag  again  respected  and  honored  everywhere. 
Much  of  what  is  called  history  is  fable  and  illusion,  but 
those  who  served  under  your  command  during  the  war 
will  always  believe  that  you  are  indebted  for  your  mili- 
tary successes  to  your  thorough  understanding  of  the 
character  and  temper  of  the  men  who  composed  and  who, 
under  your  orders,  commanded  your  armies,  to  the  con- 
fidence with  which  you  inspired  your  subordinates  in 
your  sense  of  justice,  your  devotion  to  duty,  your  sin- 
gleness of  purpose,  the  clearness  with  which  you  foresaw 
the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  the  invincible  persist- 
ence of  your  resolution,  and  you  are  singularly  fortunate 
28 


434  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

that  your  military  fame  has  excited  no  envy,  and  you 
have  written  no  book  to  prove  yourself  to  be  the  hero  of 
your  own  campaigns. 

"There  are  others  here  to-day  whom  I  have  no  doubt 
you  will  meet  with  peculiar  interest  and  pleasure.  They 
are  the  survivors  of  those  who  received  you  in  the  early 
months  of  the  memorable  year  1861,  when  you  came 
from  your  home  in  Galena  to  tender  your  aid  in  giving 
military  organization  to  the  patriotic  freemen  who  were 
gathering  in  Springfield  and  elsewhere  in  the  state  to 
take  arms  in  defense  of  the  Union  against  menaced  seces- 
sion and  disruption.  Those  were  dark  days  for  the  re- 
public. 

"The  freemen  of  the  country,  long  accustomed  to  the 
extravagance  if  not  the  violence  of  political  controversy, 
were  even  then  hardly  convinced  that  the  movements  in 
the  South  were  seriously  hostile  to  the  union  of  the 
states.  Many  of  them  supposed  that  the  actual  or- 
ganization of  the  Confederate  government  at  Mont- 
gomery was  but  an  extreme  threat  intended  to  over- 
awe Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  political  supporters  and  sep- 
arate him  and  them  from  those  in  the  North  who  had 
opposed  his  election. 

"The  men  who  received  you  and  accepted  your 
valuable  assistance  were  not  so  hopeful  or  credulous. 
They  believed,  with  Douglas,  that  the  country  had 
reached  a  point  where  its  future  must  be  determined 
on  the  battlefield :  they  believed  then,  what  all  know 
now,  that  the  free  people  of  the  United  States  will  never 
allow  the  disruption  of  the  Union,  will  never  submit  to 
the  dictation  of  a  section,  will  never  permit  the  sub- 
version of  their  republican  institutions,  and  that  the 
strongest  government  on  earth  is  that  which  rests  for 
its  support  upon  the  affection  and  free  consent  of  an 
intelligent,  patriotic  people,  and  that  their  whole  duty 
was  to  organize  and  give  direction  to  the  swelling 
spirit  of  the  men  of  our  great  state. 

"You  assisted  in  organizing  our  early  regiments  and 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS— JOHN  A.  LOGAN.  435 

led  one  of  them  to  the  field,  and  in  that  way  aided  in 
preparing  the  country  for  the  great  struggle  then  before 
it.  You  won  their  confidence  then,  and  they  have 
watched  your  career  in  all  the  grades  in  the  army 
through  which  you  passed,  and  in  public  civil  life,  and 
ever  since  you  surrendered  the  cares  of  public  office, 
with  a  peculiar  and  most  profound  interest.  They 
almost  claim  a  share  in  the  successes  and  honors  you 
have  won,  for  they  persuade  themselves  that  they  were 
the  first  to  discover  your  military  capacity  and  secure 
your  services  for  the  country. 

"But  their  numbers  have  been  lessened  by  the  in- 
exorable work  of  time.  Yates,  the  eloquent  orator  and 
patriotic  governor,  sleeps  quietly  at  Jacksonville  :  Du- 
bois,  the  rugged,  generous  Dubois,  and  Butler,  the 
sagacious  and  firm,  rest  near  the  city ;  and  others,  whom 
you  will  remember,  followed  you  to  the  field  and 
perished  there,  or  have  died  at  their  homes,  while 
Governor  Wood,  so  earnest  and  sincere  in  his  patriot- 
ism, near  the  end  of  an  honorable,  useful  life  is  strug- 
gling with  age  and  disease  at  Quincy ;  and  Hatch  and 
Williams  and  Mather  and  Bradford  are  present  to  greet 
you  again.  They  survive,  and  with  others  who  have 
passed  through  the  periods  of  anxiety  and  doubt  that 
preceded  and  attended  the  war,  and  of  depression  and 
bankruptcy  which  followed  its  close,  are  here. 

"They  have  not  escaped  unscathed;  their  locks  are 
whitened  and  their  forms  marked  by  age,  but  they 
welcome  you  to-day  and  rejoice  with  you  that  liberty 
is  the  law  of  the  republic,  that  peace  and  order  and 
prosperity  prevail  everywhere  within  its  boundaries. 

"I  will  not  detain  you  longer,  general,  but  will  leave 
you  to  the  attention  of  my  fellow-citizens,  who  are 
anxious  to  tender  you  in  person  proofs  of  their  sincere 
respect." 

General  Grant,  who  had  remained  standing  during 
this  address,  made  the  following  response  : 


436  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"GENERAL  PALMER,  GOVERNOR  CULLOM — Citizens  of 
Springfield  and  Illinois — After  an  absence  from  my 
country  of  nearly  three  years,  in  which  I  have  made 
a  circuit  of  the  globe,  it  has  seemed  to  me  fitting  and 
proper  that  I  should  come  to  this  city,  from  which  I 
started  in  the  memorable  struggle  in  which  I  first  be- 
came acquainted  with  so  many  of  the  citizens  of  this 
state.  I  assure  you  it  is  with  great  pleasure  that  I  see 
you  here  to-day,  and  I  thank  you  for  the  hearty  welcome 
which  has  greeted  me  here.  In  all  of  my  travels,  I  can 
say  to  the  citizens  before  me,  that  none  have  a  country, 
a  climate,  a  fertility  of  soil  to  surpass  just  what  we  have 
around  this  capital  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  if  all  of 
you  could  see,  as  I  have  seen,  other  countries,  other 
people,  and  the  struggle  for  life  and  existence  there,  it 
would  make  each  one,  if  possible,  a  better  citizen  of  his 
own  country,  and  he  certainly  would  feel  that  he  had 
nothing  to  complain  of  here. 

"Our  Union,  as  General  Palmer  has  said,  has  cost  us 
a  great  struggle  to  preserve,  and  I  see  before  me  here 
many  of  those  who  went  to  the  field  with  me  deter- 
mined that  it  should  not  perish ;  and  if  they  had  seen 
what  I  have  they  would  feel  certainly  as  well  satisfied 
that  what  they  fought  for  there  was  worth  even  more 
than  the  price  we  paid  for  our  present  union. 

"In  my  travels  through  our  own  country  I  am  happy 
to  say  that  I  thought  I  saw  signs  of  returning  prosperity 
in  the  section  that  we  were  lately  in  conflict  with,  and 
with  prosperity,  a  returning  love  of  the  flag  that  floats 
on  this  side  of  the  platform. 

"That  is  what  we  desire  certainly,  that  there  should 
be  a  substantial,  solid  union  feeling  in  every  section  of 
the  country  ;  and  no  matter  what  "the  public  position  of 
parties  nineteen  years  ago,  they  should  all  feel  now  they 
have  a  common  interest  in  the  same  country,  and  are 
protected  by  the  same  flag,  and  if  necessary,  should 
fight  for  it  too  1 

"Gentlemen,  I  don't  know  that  it  is  necessary  for  me 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS— JOHN  A.  LOGAN.  437 

to  say  anything  more ;  I  return  thanks  again,  and  give 
you  an  opportunity  to  get  out  of  the  sun." 

General  Grant  was  then  a  candidate  for  the  presidency, 
and  would  submit  his  claims  to  the  national  Republican 
convention,  which  met  in  Chicago.  General  James  A. 
Garfield  defeated  him  for  the  nomination.  I  had  con- 
tinued the  practice  of  law  until  the  nomination  of  Gen- 
eral Winfield  Scott  Hancock  for  president,  and  William 
H.  English  for  vice-president,  by  the  national  Demo- 
cratic convention,  which  took  place  at  Cincinnati. 

I  made  two  speeches  at  Greencastle,  Indiana,  and  on 
my  return  encountered  a  railroad  wreck,  caused  by  the 
slipping  of  a  switch.  We  ran  into  an  oil-tank,  which 
destroyed  the  train  by  fire. 

I  made  speeches  in  Sterling,  Whitesides  county,  Mt. 
Carroll,  Carroll  county,  Freeport,  Stevenson  county,  and 
other  points  in  Illinois.  The  morning  after  I  spoke  at 
Freeport,  about  the  middle  of  October,  I  found  snow 
falling,  and  returned  home  by  way  of  Decatur.  I  was 
joined  at  Tonica,  south  of  LaSalle,  by  Governor  Oglesby, 
who  had  been  engaged  in  the  canvass  for  Garfield,  but 
like  myself  gave  up  his  appointments  on  account  of  the 
inclemency  of  the  weather.  At  Virginia,  Cass  county,  I 
first  heard  that  General  Hancock  had  written  a  letter  in 
which  he  pronounced  the  tariff  a  "local  issue." 

This  had  a  depressing  effect  upon  the  Democracy,  and 
taken  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  Indiana,  which 
held  its  election  in  October,  had  declared  for  Garfield, 
caused  us,  after  a  few  more  speeches,  to  give  up  the 
campaign. 

General  Garfield  was  elected. 

I  continued  to  practice  my  profession  until  1884,  when 
Mr.  Cleveland  received  the  nomination  for  president  at 
the  national  Democratic  convention,  which  met  at  Chi- 
cago, and  to  which  I  was  a  delegate. 

I  canvassed  for  him  ;  he  reorganized  the  Democratic 
party  upon  the  tariff  issue,  and  was  successful  over  Elaine 
and  Logan. 


438  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

In  February.  1887,  the  journal  of  the  house  shows  the 
hour  of  two  o'clock  p.  M.  having  arrived,  it  being  the 
time  specified  for  the  meeting  of  the  two  houses  in  the 
hall  of  representatives,  for  holding  the  joint  memorial 
exercises,  commemorative  of  the  life  and  public  service 
of  the  deceased  statesmen,  Judge  David  Davis,  who  died 
June  26,  1886,  and  General  John  A.  Logan,  whose  death 
occurred  December  26,  1886.  The  senate,  preceded  by 
the  president  of  the  senate  and  the  secretary  thereof, 
proceeded  to  the  hall  of  the  house  of  representatives. 

After  a  prayer  by  the  Reverend  Dr.  Wines,  and  the 
anthem,  "Jesus,  Savior  of  my  soul,"  by  the  Quincy 
quartette,  Judge  Lawrence  Weldon  delivered  an  address 
on  the  life  and  public  services  of  Judge  David  Davis. 
.  The  president  then  presented  General  John  M. 
Palmer,  who  delivered  the  following  address  upon  the 
life  and  services  of  General  John  A.  Logan. 

"GOVERNOR  OGLESBY,  SENATORS  AND  REPRESENTA- 
TIVES, LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN — In  accepting  the  invi- 
tation of  the  general  assembly  of  the  State  of  Illinois, 
so  kindly  extended  to  me  to  address  you  on  this  me- 
morial occasion,  I  assumed  a  task  of  unanticipated  diffi- 
culty. 

General  John  A.  Logan,  whose  life,  character  and  pub- 
lic services  will  be  the  subject  of  this  address,  was,  while 
he  lived,  so  energetic  and  active,  and  bore  so  many  im- 
portant and  varied  relations  to  the  people  of  the  State  of 
Illinois  and  the  country,  was  so  lately  a  busy  actcr  in 
public  affairs,  filling  and  rounding  out  what,  until  his 
death,  all  believed  to  be  an  incomplete  but  promising 
career,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  now  to  think  or 
speak  of  him  as  one  who  has  passed  away  from  life,  or 
to  realize  that  'the  places  that  know  him  will  know  him 
no  more  forever.' 

"His  friends  still  almost  feel  the  warm  grasp  of  his 
hand.  The  signs  of  public  and  private  grief  are  still 
around  us .  We  cannot  forget  that  his  earthly  remains  are 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS— JOHN  A.  LOGAN.  439 

still  without  a  resting  place  ;  nor  that  the  devoted  wife, 
who  by  her  gentleness  and  wisdom,  did  so  much  to  make 
him  happy,  elevate  and  ennoble  his  character,  and 
promote  and  advance  his  interests,  uncertain  of  her 
own  future,  now  that  she  is  bereaved  and  desolate,  like 
the  broken-hearted  wandering  mother,  keeps  her  loved 
dead  in  her  arms,  with  the  hope  that  she  may  make  its 
final  bed  near  where  her  own  sad  heart  and  weary 
limbs  will  at  last  find  a  home  and  rest.  All  of  us  who 
knew  General  Logan  are  still  too  much  under  the  in- 
fluence of  his  personal  presence  to  speak  of  him  with 
absolute  impartiality,  and  the  most  calm  and  self- 
poised  mind  hesitates  when  required  to  consider  him 
only  in  the  character  of  'the  illustrious  dead,'  and  meas- 
ure all  the  great  facts  and  events  of  his  life,  to  make 
an  estimate  of  his  character  for  the  instruction  of  those 
who  follow  him.  But  happily  it  is  not  true  that  what 
are  called  the  great  facts  and  events  in  the  lives  of  emi- 
nent men  are  alone  to  be  considered  in  forming  an  es- 
timate of  the  true  value  of  their  lives  and  character. 
No  man  can  be  understood  without  a  knowledge  of  his 
social  and  home  life. 

"American  homes  are  nurseries  of  virtue  ;  and,  while 
the  loved  wife  who  rules  and  the  children  who  cluster 
in  such  homes  need  support  and  provident  care  of  the 
husband  and  father,  he  requires  for  his  own  encourage- 
ment and  safety  all  their  gentle  and  benign  influences. 
In  peace,  the  sweet  faces  of  wife  and  children  steal  upon 
us  when  we  are  alone  and  tempted ;  and  in  war,  they 
come  to  us  in  our  dreams,  and  urge  and  invite  us  to  a 
noble  manhood.  When  at  home,  by  her  instinctive  but 
wise  methods,  the  wife  places  herself  between  her  hus- 
band and  harm,  and  controls  the  excesses  and  eccen- 
tricities of  his  strength  by  the  influence  of  her  marvel- 
ous but  all  potent  weakness.  The  blessings  of  this 
most  benign  influence  no  man  could  have  realized  more 
fully  than  did  General  Logan.  His  wife,  who  has  her 
own  high  place  in  the  respect  and  affection  of  all  who 


440  THE  STORY  OF  AN   EARNEST  LIFE. 

know  her,  and  has  added  to  the  almost  sacred  name 
she  bears  new  beauty  and  sweetness,  was  to  her  husband 
a  wise  counselor  and  judicious  friend.  She  walked  be- 
side him  in  his  strength  from  her  early  womanhood  to 
his  death  ;  she  leaned  upon  his  strong  arm  for  support, 
but  she  gave  him  strength  by  her  wise  counsel  and  gen- 
tle influence.  Let  her  bring  her  loved  dead  to  Illinois, 
and  like  a  loving  mother,  Illinois  will  take  him  to  her 
bosom.  He  may  rest  at  Murphysboro,  beside  those  of 
his  own  family  who  have  gone  before  him,  or  he  may 
sleep  where  the  winds  of  Lake  Michigan  will  forever 
sing  his  requiem,  while  she,  to  command  the  respect  and 
affection  of  every  son  of  Illinois,  will  have  but  to  pro- 
nounce her  own  simple  name,  Mary,  the  wife  of  Logan ! 
But  we  must  pass  from  these  affecting  considerations, 
and  speak  of  General  Logan  as  he  was  to  the  people  of 
his  native  state,  in  various  relations — as  a  citizen,  a  sol- 
dier and  a  politician.  He  must  be  studied  in  all  these 
aspects  and  relations,  that  we  may  ourselves  understand 
him,  and  that  he  may  pass  from  the  hands  of  those  who 
knew  him  and  loved  him  into  the  keeping  of  impartial 
history.  I  have  already  spoken  of  Logan  as  a  husband 
and  father  ;  that  he  filled  those  relations  well,  is  shown 
by  the  devotion  of  his  wife  and  his  children,  and  their 
pathetic  grief  at  his  loss.  That  he  was  in  private  life 
a  good  citizen  and  neighbor,  is  attested  by  the  united 
voice  of  those  who  knew  him  in  his  childhood,  and 
watched  him  advance  in  his  successful  career  with  an 
affectionate  interest  that  proves  how  warmly  they  were 
attached  to  him.  It  is  remarkable,  that,  though  General 
Logan  was  in  opposition  to  most  of  the  people  of  the 
section  of  the  state  where  he  lived  when  he  entered  the 
army,  and  then  excited  by  his  aggressive  course  the 
most  severe  and  bitter  criticism,  he  still  retained  a  large 
measure  of  the  personal  good-will  and  respect  of  those 
who  opposed  him.  Aside,  however,  from  mere  personal 
respect  and  attachment  to  him,  it  has  always  seemed  to 
me  that  much  of  the  strength  of  General  Logan,  with 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS— JOHN  A.  LOGAN.  441 

the  people  of  that  portion  of  the  state,  which  we  call 
Southern  Illinois,  resulted  from  the  circumstance  that 
he  knew  them,  was  of  them,  and  was  in  many  re- 
spects like  them.  By  making  this  latter  statement,  I 
undertake  the  difficult  task  of  so  describing  the  peo- 
ple to  whom  I  refer,  their  traits,  their  habits  of  life, 
and  surrounding  conditions,  that  they  will  be  under- 
stood and  properly  appreciated  by  this  audience, 
which  so  largely  represents  the  progress  and  growth, 
as  well  as  the  intelligence  and  culture  of  the  Il- 
linois of  to-day.  Contrasting  the  social  condition  of 
the  people  of  Illinois  to-day  with  that  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  Southern  Illinois  sixty  or  even  thirty  years 
ago,  they  seem  to  be  separated  from  us  by  the  space  of 
a  century ;  and  yet  in  this  earlier  state  of  society,  we  see 
the  germs  of  all  that  is  noble  and  excellent  in  modern 
life.  More  than  a  century  ago,  the  restless  population 
of  the  old  states,  stung  by  an  uncontrollable  passion  for 
adventure  and  change,  commenced  the  movements  that 
have  since  peopled  the  continent. 

"The  course  of  northern  immigration  is  well  under- 
stood ;  but  we  are  to  follow  the  movements  of  those  from 
the  southern  and  southeastern  Atlantic  states,  who,  early 
in  the  century,  crossed  the  Ohio  river  and  took  posses- 
sion of  the  southern  portion  of  the  state.  The  older  of 
the  earlier  emigrants  of  the  region  to  which  I  refer  had 
halted  for  a  time  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  and  then, 
with  their  families  increased  by  children  and  grand- 
children, moved  on  across  the  Ohio,  where  they  estab- 
lished themselves,  soon  providing  new  swarms  for  the 
possession  of  the  elysium  of  the  pioneer  'further  west.' 

"Death  itself,  in  the  imagination  of  the  pioneer,  as  in 
that  of  his  almost  kinsman  and  predecessor,  the  Indian, 
was  but  to  descend  into  and  be  lost  in  the  ocean  which 
limits  the  continent  on  the  west.  This  was  a  hardy,  in- 
dependent, self-reliant  race.  Some  of  them  had  taken 
part  in  the  revolutionary  war,  and  when  these  veterans 
'shouldered  their  crutches  to  show  how  fields  were  won,' 


442  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

their  denunciations  of  'the  British'  were  fierce  and  bitter 
enough  to  satisfy  the  hates  of  an  Irish  patriot  or  a  modern 
senator.  They  were  a  martial  race,  and  had  taken  part 
in  the  war  with  Great  Britain  in  1812-15.  Some  of  them 
were  with  Harrison  at  Tippecanoe ;  others,  with  Win- 
chester, witnessed  the  massacre  at  Raisin  river ;  but 
others,  more  happy  and  honored  than  all,  were  with 
Jackson  at  New  Orleans. 

"They  were  in  favor  of  all  wars  present  and  prospec- 
tive, and  Logan,  a  soldier  at  nineteen  and  again  at 
thirty-five,  was  thoroughly  imbued  with  this  warlike 
spirit.  But  the  qualities  of  hardiness,  independence  and 
self-reliance  which  I  assert  for  them  was  illustrated  by 
all  their  acts  and  conduct.  They  knew  nothing  of  cities  ; 
they  were  impatient  of  the  restraints  imposed  upon 
them  by  'the  settlements;'  they  loved  the  solitude  of 
the  woods,  with  no  companion  but  the  rifle.  Their 
houses  were  of  logs ;  every  man  was  his  own  architect 
and,  with  the  voluntary  aid  of  a  few  of  his  neighbors, 
his  own  builder.  These  rude  homes  sheltered  affections 
as  pure  and  tender  as  ever  did  'marble  halls ;'  and  in 
them  the  patient  wife  and  mother,  as  solitary  in  her 
tastes  as  her  husband,  made  and  fitted  the  coarse,  sim- 
ple garments  worn  by  herself,  her  husband  and  her  chil- 
dren. They  hated  ecclesiastical  establishments  with  the 
intensity  which  characterized  the  gloomiest  of  the  En- 
glish and  Scotch  Dissenters  from  whom  many  of  them 
were  descended.  In  their  religious  beliefs,  which  were 
favorable  to  personal  independence,  they  were  sincere, 
intense  and  narrow.  They  were  tolerant  only,  I  fear, 
because  they  had  no  power  to  punish.  The  logic  of 
their  own  opinions  made  it  impossible  for  them  to  con- 
sent that  the  state  should  in  any  way  interfere  with  the 
affairs  of  the  church,  but  they  expected  with  the  most 
confident  faith  that  God  would  avenge  himself  of  His 
enemies,  and  they  were  sure  and  felt  a  degree  of  satis- 
faction in  the  certainty  that  certain  classes  of  persons 
who  differed  from  them  would  be  remembered  when  the 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS— JOHN  A.  LOGAN.  443 

hour  for  the  infliction  of  divine  vengeance  should  arrive. 
In  their  political  conduct,  they  were  independent.  The 
caucus  was  unknown  as  a  means  of  political  organiza- 
tion, and  they  knew  no  methods  for  the  control  of  the 
individual  or  subordination  of  the  private  will  of  the 
citizen  to  the  will  of  the  majority.  They  were  illiterate — 
using  that  term  in  the  exact  sense  that  they  were  defi- 
cient in  a  knowledge  of  letters — but  not  uneducated  in 
the  arts  of  the  independent  and  sufficient  support.  While 
they  regarded  learning  in  others  with  an  almost  super- 
stitious respect,  they  always  looked  upon  it  with  a  de- 
gree of  suspicion.  Doctors  and  lawyers  were  social  and 
political  leaders,  but  the  true  pioneer,  with  a  sagacity 
that  did  him  credit,  always  suspected  that  the  skill 
claimed  by  the  physician  was  pretense,  and  the  lawyers 
were  hardly  honest.  In  this  picture,  which  is  drawn  by 
no  unfriendly  hand,  for  in  it  I  see  the  portraits  of  my 
own  ancestors,  the  last  of  whom  crossed  the  Ohio  in 
1831,  I  have  endeavored  to  present  to  you  the  social 
conditions  which  gave  impress  to  and  molded  the  char- 
acter of  John  A.  Logan.  But  still,  like  other  theorists, 
I  am  ready  to  make  large  concessions  in  order  to  pre- 
serve my  theory.  Those  who  study  the  processes  of  nature 
assert  it  to  be  an  axiom  that  'like  produces  like,'  but,  ob- 
serving as  a  practical  fact  that  nature  delights  in  di- 
versity, they  concede  that  the  effects  of  heredity  are 
largely  modified  by  circumstances,  but  they  still  claim 
that  its  essential  potency  exists.  I  concede  that,  while 
the  essential  and  underlying  qualities  common  to  the 
people  of  Southern  Illinois,  as  I  have  described  them, 
were  the  basis  of  General  Logan's  character,  their  influ- 
ence was  modified  by  circumstances  and  conditions, 
among  which  were  the  fact  that  his  father  was  a  physi- 
cian and  possessed  more  than  the  average  culture  and 
knowledge  of  the  world  ;  that  Logan's  own  opportunities 
were,  for  the  time,  liberal ;  and  that,  entering  upon  public 
and  professional  life  early,  aided  by  a  quick  and  observ- 


444  THE  STORY  OF  AN   EARNEST  LIFE. 

ant  mind,  he  became  what  he  was  in  1860  and  1861,  when 
his  real  life  commenced. 

"Entertaining  this  opinion,  I  purposely  pass  over  all 
that  portion  of  his  public  life  that  preceded  the  year  1860, 
with  the  briefest  reference  to  details.  He  volunteered 
for  the  Mexican  war,  and  served  with  his  regiment ;  he 
was  the  clerk  of  one  of  the  local  courts,  a  member  of  the 
state  legislature  for  more  than  one  session,  was  state's 
attorney  of  his  circuit  and  was  finally  elected  to  congress. 
These,  as  compared  with  the  later  years  of  his  life,  were 
uneventful.  He  was  elected  to  these  various  offices  as 
the  representative  of  the  party  to  which  he  was  attached, 
and  his  election  signified  but  little  more  than  that  he  had 
succeeded  in  winning  a  larger  share  of  the  confidence  of 
his  party  associates  than  had  his  rivals  in  his  own  party. 
Perhaps,  it  is  more  accurate  to  say  that  Logan's  real  ca- 
reer commenced  in  1860,  after  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
to  the  presidency ;  for,  though  he  did  not  enter  the  mili- 
tary service,  where  he  won  his  highest  claims  to  distinc- 
tion, until  the  autumn  of  1861,  yet,  from  the  time  the 
Southern  leaders  found  in  Lincoln's  election  a  pretext  for 
secession  and  the  organization  of  a  government — a  rival 
of  and  hostile  to  the  Union — Logan's  popularity  and  in- 
fluence in  Southern  Illinois,  as  well  as  his  known  bold- 
ness, made  his  probable  course  a  subject  of  deep  interest 
to  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  supporters  in  the  West. 

"Gentlemen  of  the  General  Assembly,  when  I  accepted 
the  invitation  to  address  you  upon  this  occasion,  I  real- 
ized that  no  estimate  of  the  life  and  services  of  General 
Logan  would  be  satisfactory  to  the  country  which  did  not 
include  a  discussion  of  the  feelings,  motives  and  purposes 
which  controlled  his  conduct  from  the  defeat  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  at  the  presidential  election,  in  1860,  until 
he  entered  the  army,  in  1861,  and  which  have  been  the 
subject  of  so  much  controversy. 

"I  knew  at  the  same  time  that  you  were  not  ignorant 
of  the  fact  that  my  political  relations  with  General  Logan 
at  the  time  of  his  death  were  not  harmonious,  and  that, 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS— JOHN  A.  LOGAN.  445 

in  the  controversies  which  preceded  the  election  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  in  1860,  and  that  attending  the  second  election 
of  General  Grant,  in  1872,  and  those  which  have  attended 
subsequent  elections,  we  exchanged  many  rugged  but 
not  unmanly  blows.  These  considerations  suggest  to 
me  that  others  who  may  speak  of  General  Logan  may  be 
pardoned  if  they  merely  eulogize  his  life  and  brilliant 
services  ;  but,  that  it  will  be  expected  of  me  that  I  should 
deal  with  the  facts  of  his  life,  analyze  his  character,  and, 
as  far  as  possible,  contribute  to  and  discharge  our  common 
duty  to  impartial  history.  I  have  had  access  to  all  the 
evidence  bearing  upon  this  subject,  written,  oral  and  tra- 
ditional, and  to  his  own  public  explanation,  but  I  prefer 
to  rely  upon  a  few  circumstances  to  which  I  shall  briefly 
advert,  with  others  of  like  character  with  which  I  am 
familiar,  to  justify  the  conclusion  I  have  reached.  While 
I  am  bound  to  say  that  John  A.  Logan,  in  1860,  disliked 
and  distrusted  the  supporters  of  both  Lincoln  and  Breck- 
enridge,  and,  until  the  actual  occurrence  of  flagrant  hos- 
tilities, hoped  for  some  adjustment  of  sectional  contro- 
versies upon  the  basis  of  the  Union,  and  was,  for  the 
sake  of  such  peaceful  adjustment,  prepared  to  make  con- 
cessions to  the  discontented  elements,  there  never  was  a 
day  when  he  sympathized  with  secession,  or  would  have 
consented  to  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  In  order  to 
exactly  comprehend  the  motives  and  the  influences  which 
probably  controlled  the  conduct  of  General  Logan  from 
the  time  of  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  1860,  until 
he  donned  the  uniform  of  a  soldier,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that,  even  before  the  proposition  to  repeal  what 
was  called  'The  Missouri  Compromise'  was  made  in  con- 
gress, abundant  evidence  existed  that  the  legislation  of 
1850,  which  was  intended  to  settle  all  of  the  disturbing 
questions  which  grew  out  of  the  annexation  of  Texas 
and  the  acquisition  of  territory  from  Mexico,  had  not 
quieted  the  public  mind,  and  was  not  really  satisfactory 
to  what  was  then  termed  'the  sections,'  the  North  and 
the  South,  though  these  measures,  grouped  together,  and 


446  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

called  the  'compromise  of  1850,'  were  approved  by  the 
Democracy  of  the  northern  and  border  states  as  a  fair 
adjustment  of  dangerous  subjects  of  dispute. 

"The  repeal  of  the  'Missouri  Compromise,'  for  which 
Mr.  Douglas  was  held  responsible  by  those  who  opposed 
the  measure  of  repeal,  opened  the  flood  gates  of  strife, 
and  led  in  fact  to  the  organization  of  two  parties  in  the 
country  between  whom  compromises  were  impossible, 
and  armed  conflict  was  inevitable,  though  the  parties  to 
which  I  refer  were  not  fully  developed  until  1860.  In 
1856,  the  Democracy  of  the  Union,  though  disturbed  by 
conflicting  policies  and  purposes,  succeeded  in  electing 
Buchanan  to  the  presidency,  who,  no  doubt,  patriotic  in 
sentiment,  blinded  by  prejudices  and  paralyzed  by 
narrow  views  of  the  lawful  right  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  to  defend  and  protect  their  own  govern- 
ment and  free  institutions,  weakly  permitted  already 
determined  secessionists  to  enter  his  cabinet  and  use  the 
power  of  his  administration  to  pursue  and,  if  possible, 
destroy  Mr.  Douglas,  the  leader  of  the  Northern  De- 
mocracy, and  make  war  on  the  free  settlers  in  Kansas. 
He  did  not  understand  the  character  and  purposes  of  the 
Southern  leaders  as  Douglas  did,  nor  was  he  the  con- 
scious traitor  Douglas  asserted  him  to  be,  when  in  Febru- 
ary, 1861,  he  said :  'The  Southern  leaders  will  not  be 
satisfied  with  independence  ;  they  seek  dominion.  Rec- 
ognize a  confederacy  which  will  comprise  all  the  slave 
states,  and  they  will  demand  Washington  upon  the  pre- 
text that  the  District  of  Columbia  was  once  a  part  of 
Maryland.  Concede  them  "Washington,  they  will  then 
insist  upon  having  all  public  property  not  local  in  the 
North  ;  and  if  it  can  be  imagined  that  all  these  conces- 
sions would  be  submitted  to  by  the  people  of  the  North- 
ern states,  they  will  then  close  the  Mississippi  river  to 
western  commerce,  to  compel  the  secession  of  the  West- 
ern states,'  and  he  added:  'If  Buchanan  had  not  been 
a  traitor,  I  would  have  forced  the  issue  upon  Davis  and 
his  friends  when  they  attempted  to  shackle  the  people  of 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS— JOHN  A.  LOGAN.  447 

Kansas  with  the  Lecompton  constitution,  and  would 
have  compelled  them  to  fight.  Then  there  was  a  Union 
sentiment  in  the  country  strong  enough  to  crush  them 
instantly,  but  now,  before  the  controversy  is  settled,  the 
continent  will  tremble  under  the  tread  of  a  million  armed 
men.'  From  what  Logan  said  to  me,  when  a  day  or  two 
later  I  repeated  to  him  what  Douglas  had  said,  I  was 
satisfied  that  if  Douglas  had  succeeded  in  forcing  the 
issue  upon  the  Southern  leaders,  as  he  proposed,  Logan 
at  the  head  of  regiments  of  his  Southern  Illinois  neigh- 
bors would  have  rallied  around  the  flag  with  enthusiasm, 
and  for  that  object  would  have  been  among  the  foremost 
to  battle  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Union. 

"In  two  other  conversations  with  Logan,  in  February, 
1861,  he  used  expressions  that  are  far  more  satisfactory 
evidence  to  me  of  his  real  feelings  with  reference  to  the 
threatened  assaults  upon  the  integrity  of  the  Union,  than 
formal  language  used  by  him  on  public  occasions. 

"In  one  of  these  conversations  about  February  24, 
1861,  we  spoke  of  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  who, 
at  the  request  of  John  Tyler,  once  president  of  the 
United  States,  and  then  president  of  the  peace  confer- 
ence, had  forbidden  the  usual  parade  of  the  United 
States  troops,  then  in  and  around  the  capitol,  on  Wash- 
ington's birthday,  for  fear  that  the  South  would  regard 
such  a  parade  as  a  'menace.'  Logan  said,  in  language 
more  forcible,  if  less  elegant  than  he  was  accustomed  to 
use  in  later  life :  'The  —  old  fool  will  see  a  —  sight 
more  troops  in  Washington  before  his  secession  friends 
get  possession  of  this  government.'  In  the  same,  or  an- 
other conversation  with  Logan  about  that  time,  I  told 
him  that  a  distinguished  man,  afterwards  a  member  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  cabinet,  the  chief-justice  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  United  States,  favored  a  call  of  the  states  to 
devise  means  to  settle  our  controversies  and  pacify  the 
country  ;  and  that  he  had  said  in  substance,  that  if  such 
a  convention  was  called  in  pursuance  of  the  constitution, 
and  it  should  agree  upon  a' division  of  the  Union,  allow- 


448  THE  STORY  OF   AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

ing  the  Southern  states  to  form  a  separate  government, 
no  authority  could  rightly  resist  its  conclusion.  Logan 
then  said,  in  terms  of  scorn,  'Yes,  his  convention  will 
make  one  end  of  the  Mississippi  river  discharge  its  waters 
into  Lake  Michigan,  I  suppose,  but  unless  it  does  that, 
Illinois  will  never  consent  that  a  foreign  government 
shall  control  the  Mississippi  from  Cairo  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.'  These  and  other  circumstances  prepared  me 
fully  to  agree  with  what  was  said  in  this  city  in  May, 
1861,  by  one  of  Logan's  most  distinguished  predecessors 
in  the  senate  to  a  number  of  gentlemen  who  were  dis- 
cussing with  reference  to  the  war  :  'Never  mind  Logan, 
he  hates  secession ;  he  has  not  yet  realized  the  gravity 
of  the  contest,  but  he  will  after  awhile.  He  is  a  soldier 
by  instinct,  he  will  come  into  the  fight  and  distinguish 
himself.' 

"Logan's  warlike  temper  made  him  visit  Bull  Run 
and  witness  the  battle  fought  between  the  Union  and 
Rebel  forces  on  July  27,  1861,  in  which  the  Union 
forces  suffered  a  disastrous  defeat.  He  then,  if  he  had 
not  before,  realized  that  all  was  in  danger,  and  that 
as  a  patriot  and  soldier  his  country  had  claims  upon 
him  which  he  could  no  longer  resist ;  and  on  September 
18,  1861,  he  was  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United 
States  as  colofiehCfTne  'SlsURegiment  of  Illinois  Volun- 
teer Infantry  ;  and  from  that  time  until  the  close  of  the 
war  the  story  of  his  conduct  and  services  as  a  soldier  is 
written  upon  the  brightest  pages  of  the  military  history 
of  the  war. 

"Gentlemen  of  the  General  Assembly,  I  accepted  your 
invitation  to  make  this  address  that  I  might  bear  this 
testimony ;  and  having  done  so,  time,  which  pursues 
us  all  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  and  whitens  our 
locks  and  bows  our  forms,  for  a  brief  space  withholds 
his  final  blow  and  permits  me,  divested  of  all  feelings 
of  strife  and  all  memory  of  conflicts,  to  stand  as  if  in 
the  glow  of  a  summer  sunset  and  look  back  along  the 
shadows  as  they  lengthen  to  the  east  and  see  and  recall 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS— JOHN  A.  LOGAN.  449 

only  the  kindly  faces  and  pleasant  events  of  the  past. 
In  this  retrospect  I  only  see  Logan  as  he  was  when  I 
first  met  him  a  third  of  a  century  ago,  young,  energetic 
and  ambitious,  full  of  strength  and  hope ;  but  my 
memory  recalls  him  most  impressively  as  my  comrade 
on  the  battlefields,  when  under  the  same  glorious  flag 
we  fought  for  liberty  and  national  unity,  and  where  he 
always  acquitted  himself  as  a  devoted  patriot  soldier. 

"General  Logan  has  large  claims  to  distinction  as  a 
soldier,  and  yet  these  claims  to  be  properly  understood 
are  to  be  considered  with  reference  to  many  facts  which 
are  not  usually  taken  into  account  by  those  who  form 
and  express  opinions  as  to  the  character  of  military  men  ; 
and  it  is  curious  to  note  that  the  most  earnest  and 
eloquent  of  his  eulogists  seem  to  exhaust  themselves  in 
praising  him  for  his  acknowledged  possession  of  the 
most  common  of  all  soldiery  qualities — courage.  That 
General  Logan  possessed  this  essential  quality  of  a 
soldier  in  a  high  degree  none  can  doubt,  but  almost 
every  man  who  fought  under  his  order  from  Belmont  to 
Atlanta  possessed  the  same  noble  temper.  No  man  who 
ever  commanded  American  soldiers  on  a  battlefield  will 
fail  to  remember  that  his  own  command  and  the  enemy 
opposed  to  him  always  exhibited  undoubted  courage, 
and  perhaps  every  battle  afforded  examples  of  heroism 
in  his  own  soldiers  equal  to  his  own  highest  claims. 
It  may  have  been  exhibited  in  the  desperate  struggles 
between  battalions  for  the  possession  of  a  battery  or  a 
flag,  or  between  regiments  from  the  same  state  with  the 
same  number,  the  one  Federal,  the  other  Confederate, 
both  refusing  to  yield  the  field,  officers  of  all  grades  and 
every  man  in  the  ranks,  forgetful  of  all  else,  fighting 
with  desperation.  The  Rebels  at  Corinth  and  at  Knox- 
ville,  where  we  filled  the  ditches  in  front  of  our  works 
with  their  dead,  displayed  the  most  conspicuous  and 
wonderful  courage,  while  at  Kenesaw,  ill  fated  Kenesaw, 
the  heads  of  our  columns  of  attack  were  swept  away  by 
29 


450  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

a  consuming  fire,  every  man  meeting  his  fate  with  un- 
surpassed heroism.  So  on  the  grander  occasion  at 
Missionary  Ridge  where  an  army,  obeying  a  common 
impulse,  made  their  way  up  the  face  of  the  mountain 
while  its  top  was  shrouded  with  smoke  of  more  than  a 
hundred  pieces  of  artillery  and  the  slope  crowded  with 
veteran  infantry.  No  grander  scene  could  be  imagined 
than  that  which  was  witnessed  by  those  in  the  valley 
west  of  the  ridge,  when  fifteen  thousand  men  at  once 
sprang  forward,  pushed  their  way  on  and  up,  and  until 
they  entered  the  cloud  of  smoke  their  battle  flags  could 
be  seen  fluttering  in  the  sun.  Upward  they  climb  ;  for 
a  brief  space  they  are  lost  to  view,  then  the  ringing 
shouts  of  thousands  of  men  is  heard,  the  victory  is  ours, 
and  the  army  of  brave  men  which  had  beleaguered 
Chattanooga  is  crushed  and  vanishes.  But  the  battle 
on  the  left  of  Atlanta,  on  the  day  of  the  death  of 
McPherson,  affords  a  more  pertinent  illustration  of  my 
meaning. 

"On  that  day,  Logan  was  at  once  inspired  by  the 
splendid  courage  of  his  subordinates,  and  was,  by  his 
own  daring,  an  inspiration  to  them.  On  July  18,  or  19, 
1864,  Hood  succeeded  Johnston  in  command  of  the  army 
of  veterans  which  had  confronted  three  armies,  the 
'hundred  days'  between  Ringgold  and  Atlanta.  On 
July  20th,  he  made  that  impetuous  attack  upon  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland,  which  opened  what  is  called 
the  'Battle  of  Peach  Tree  Creek.'  He  was  repulsed 
with  terrible  loss,  and  during  the  night  of  the  21st,  Gen- 
eral Sherman  conceived  the  idea  that  Atlanta  was  evacu- 
ated, and  the  orders  issued  to  the  right  of  the  army  on, 
July  22d  were  to  leave  Atlanta  to  the  left,  and  pursue 
the  enemy  in  the  direction  of  Eastport,  which  was  to 
the  west  and  south.  Whether  the  supposed  fact  of  the 
evacuation  of  the  city  by  the  Rebels  had  been  announced 
on  the  morning  of  the  22d  to  General  McPherson,  who 
commanded  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  on  the  extreme 
left,  I  never  knew.  I  have  always  supposed  that  it  had 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS— JOHN  A.  LOGAN.  451 

been  done,  and  that,  inspired  by  belief  that  the  enemy 
had  retreated,  McPherson  was  less  careful  than  usual, 
and  that  Hood  was  allowed,  by  a  bold  movement,  to 
turn  and  envelop  the  left  of  the  army  with  nearly  his 
whole  force  of  magnificent  men.  The  movements  of  the 
Rebel  forces  were  so  made  and  concealed  that  McPherson, 
while  riding  inside  his  own  lines,  as  he  supposed,  en- 
countered a  portion  of  the  enemy,  and  was  killed,  and 
Logan  took  command. 

"From  all  accounts,  official  and  personal,  of  this  bat- 
tle, which  have  been  published,  it  was  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  affairs  of  the  war,  and  made  the  largest  de- 
mands upon  the  soldierly  qualities  of  officers  and  men. 

"I  hesitate  to  say  that  any  portion  of  the  Army  of 
the  Tennessee  was  surprised,  because  I  remember  the 
controversies  produced  by  the  events  of  the  battle  of 
Shiloh.  I  believe  that  on  the  morning  of  July  22d,  Gen- 
eral Sherman  did  not  expect  that  any  part  of  his  army 
was  to  fight  a  battle  on  that  day.  I  know  he  did  not 
expect  the  right  to  fight  because  it  was  informed  by  him 
that  Atlanta  was  evacuated,  and  it  was  ordered  to  pursue 
the  enemy,  who  was  supposed  to  be  retreating. 

"If  he  had  expected  the  center  or  left  to  fight  on  that 
day,  he  would  not  have  sent  the  right  in  pursuit  of  an 
enemy  which  had  not  retreated,  and  which  he  knew  was 
then  in  position,  or  to  take  position  for  the  battle. 
Whatever  may  be  the  facts  upon  these  points,  the  Rebel 
movements  brought  the  armies  face  to  face,  and  Hood's 
attack  was  made  with  recklessness,  which  characterized 
his  conduct  in  all  the  battles  around  Atlanta  and  Frank- 
lin, where,  under  the  impulse  of  mere  unreasoning  cour- 
age, Hood  attacked  the  retreating  Army  of  the  Cumber- 
land, and  was  repulsed  with  the  loss  of  thousands  of  his 
best  officers  and  soldiers. 

"It  was  precisely  at  this  moment  that  the  death  of 
McPherson  devolved  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee  upon  Logan,  and  it  is  upon  his  conduct  on 
that  day  rests  his  best  claim  to  be  regarded  as  a 


452  THE  STOEY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

great  military  commander.  On  that  day,  thousands  of 
men  whose  names  appear  only  upon  such  company  rolls 
as  may  have  been  preserved,  or  who  sleep  in  nameless 
graves  in  the  soil  of  Georgia,  fought  with  unsurpassed 
and  unsurpassable  courage — but  Logan,  while  he  saw 
this  grand  expression  of  valor  with  the  pride  and  en- 
thusiasm of  a  soldier,  had  other  claims  upon  him.  It 
was  the  necessity  of  his  situation  that  he  should  be  cool 
and  deliberate  and  observant  of  all  the  phases  of  the 
battle,  and  on  all  points  of  the  battlefield.  Others,  un- 
der the  fierce  glow  of  the  battle  fever,  which  thousands 
have  felt,  but  which  none  can  describe,  might  fight,  for- 
getful of  all  but  that  a  brave  enemy  was  before  them. 
But  the  commander,  with  a  ready  eye,  and  unconquer- 
able resolution,  must  be  able  to  see  order  when  to  others 
everything  is  confusion  ;  must  think  for  all,  have  an  eye 
for  the  battlefield,  and  be  ready  to  provide  for  every 
emergency. 

"These  were  the  qualities  required  of  Logan  on  that 
day,  and  we  have  the  testimony  of  General  Sherman 
himself  that  Logan  possessed  and  employed  them  all. 
I  will  not  quote  Sherman's  testimony  on  these  points  as 
it  appears  in  letters  written  by  himself  a  few  days  after 
the  battle ;  but  Sherman,  to  the  astonishment  of  all,  in 
the  face  of  his  admissions  of  Logan's  gallantry  and  skill 
on  that  day,  within  a  week  after  the  battle,  assigned  a 
stranger  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee, 
and  Logan  returned  to  the  command  of  his  corps.  It 
was  felt  at  the  time  that  Sherman's  course  in  relieving 
Logan  was  a  wrong  done  to  him  and  to  the  volunteer 
officers  of  the  army.  The  real  reason  for  Sherman's 
conduct  was  that  Logan  did  not  belong  to  the  regular 
army.  It  is  true,  as  Sherman  says  in  his  letter  of  ex- 
planation written  to  Halleck  assigning  Howard  to  the 
command  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  'It  did  not  de- 
prive Logan  of  his  rank  in  the  army,  nor  of  his  excel- 
lent army  corps,'  but  we  know  that  it  did  deprive  Logan 
of  his  opportunity  to  win  the  distinction  at  the  head  of 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS— JOHN  A.  LOGAN.  453 

the  army,  which  he  had  demonstrated  his  capacity  to  lead 
and  command  on  a  battlefield.  It  is  probable  that  this 
mistake  of  General  Sherman  resulted  from  the  often  ob- 
served fact  that  men  educated  at  West  Point,  who  have 
attempted  the  pursuits  of  civil  life  and  have  failed,  are 
apt  in  war  to  overestimate  the  value  of  special  military 
training. 

"They  are  unable  to  imagine  a  versatility  of  capacity 
which  makes  it  possible  for  some  men,  without  the 
formal  training  of  this  school,  to  succeed  by  force  of 
qualities  which  adapt  them  to  military  command.  The 
great  Napoleon,  unlike  Halleck  and  Sherman,  did  not 
look  to  the  military  schools  alone  for  the  leaders  of  his 
armies.  He  understood  men  and  employed  great  qual- 
ities wherever  found,  and  the  result  was  that  his  'eagles' 
dominated  the  world.  The  value  of  opportunity  will  be 
understood  by  a  brief  reference  to  some  other  distin- 
guished commanders  during  the  war.  Opportunity 
waited  for  Grant.  He  won  Donelson  and  fought  the 

o 

battle  of  Shiloh,  and  was  then  superseded  by  Halleck. 
Opportunity  came  to  him  again  before  and  at  the  fall 
of  Vicksburg,  and  she  again  came  to  him  with  a  smiling 
face  at  Chattanooga.  She  invited  him  to  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  when  McClellan,  McDowell,  Pope,  Hooker 
and  Burnside  had  failed,  and  at  a  time  when  the  poli- 
ticians at  Washington  had  been  taught  by  our  reverses 
that  to  make  and  unmake  commanders  for  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  would  not  put  down  the  rebellion.  Grant, 
when  he  reached  Washington,  was  made  the  dictator  of 
the  republic.  His  will  was  made  law.  He  touched  the 
wires  and  armies  were  created  and  moved  at  his  word. 
The  governors  of  states  became  his  recruiting  officers, 
and  recruits  moved  from  the  states  in  masses  to  fill  the 
vacancies  in  his  ranks,  created  by  disease  in  his  camps 
and  death  on  his  battlefields.  He  was  placed  upon  an 
eminence  of  command  from  which  he  overlooked  the 
whole  field ;  and  with  the  resources  of  the  country  at 
his  command,  he  crushed  the  rebellion,  and  no  other 


454  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

policy  and  perhaps  no  other  man  was  equal  to  the  oc- 
casion. 

"Opportunity  waited  for  Sherman  with  great  patience. 
He  did  not  distinguish  himself  at  Bull  Run  in  1861,  nor 
in  Kentucky,  or  in  Missouri.  At  Shiloh,  he  says  that 
lie  was  not  surprised,  though  he  confesses  some  aston- 
ishment that  he  was  attacked  unexpectedly.  His  assault 
upon  Vicksburg  was  unfortunate.  His  raid  upon  Me- 
ridian, in  1864,  was  not  fruitful  of  good  results,  nor  did 
he  succeed  in  crowning  Missionary  Ridge  until  the 
enemy  was  successfully  assailed  by  the  Army  of  the 
Cumberland  ;  but  opportunity  finally  came  to  him  and 
gave  to  him  the  command  of  the  army  on  his  march 
from  Chattanooga  to  the  sea.  Perhaps  she  was  not  so 
kind  when  she  allowed  him  to  exhibit  his  superiority 
to  men  trained  in  the  pursuits  of  civil  life,  as  he  did 
in  his  never-to-be-forgotten  negotiations  for  the  surrender 
of  Johnston.  Grant,  who  entertained  a  different  view 
of  his  duty,  assigned  General  Logan  to  take  command 
of  the  army  at  Nashville  in  December,  1864 ;  and  the 
events  which  followed  further  illustrate  the  value  of  op- 
portunity, for  if  Logan  had  reached  Nashville  one  day 
before  Thomas  commenced  his  battle,  Logan  would  have 
taken  command  of  the  army  and  won  a  great  victory, 
while  Thomas,  who  now  occupies  so  grand  a  place  among 
the  illustrious  soldiers  of  the  republic,  would  scarcely 
be  remembered.  It  would  afford  me  pleasure  to  enter 
into  the  details  of  the  military  life  of  General  Logan, 
and  give  an  account  of  his  services  at  Belmont,  at  Don- 
elson,  at  Shiloh,  and  in  the  battles  in  the  advance  upon 
and  before  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  and  around  Atlanta, 
but  the  needed  information  on  these  subjects  is  before 
the  country,  and  I  may  add  that  in  addition  to  a  purpose 
I  have  already  disclosed,  my  only  object  is  to  present 
him  to  your  view  by  reference  to  characteristic  events  as 
he  will  in  my  judgment  stand  in  history.  To  attempt  to 
make  my  audience  comprehend  my  estimate  of  the  char- 
acter of  General  Logan  by  comparing  him  with  any  other 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS—JOHN  A.  LOGAN.  455 

man  whose  name  is  familiar  in  our  history,  would  prob- 
ably mislead  or  delude,  but  still,  at  the  risk  of  being 
misunderstood,  I  will  attempt  it.  In  most  important 
respects,  he  resembled  Andrew  Jackson,  though  less 
fortunate  in  mere  accidents  that  give  men  distinction. 
He  was  the  equal  of  Jackson  in  courage,  resolution  and 
promptness  on  the  battlefield,  but  since  Jackson's  day, 
social  and  military  conditions  are  essentially  changed. 

"Jackson,  without  formal  military  education,  was  the 
most  eminent  military  leader  of  the  day  in  which  he 
lived  ;  but  all  the  accidents  of  the  times  favored  him.  He 
commanded  men  who  knew  and  loved  him.  The  science 
of  war  as  he  practiced  it  was  simple,  and  afforded  a  wide 
field  for  the  exercise  of  personal  martial  qualities.  The 
weapons  of  war  were  the  arms  possessed  by  the  citizen, 
and  except  in  the  single  operation  at  New  Orleans,  the 
enemy  was  the  savage.  Jackson  was  never  'over- 
slaughed' or  controlled  by  the  pedantry  of  military 
sciolists  or  the  necessities  of  politicians.  I  feel  quite 
confident  that  under  like  circumstances  General  Logan 
would  have  been  equal  to  the  duties,  and  would  have 
won  the  victories  which  crown  the  name  of  Jackson. 

"Nor  was  he  one  of  the  men  made  great  by  war,  to  be 
made  small  by  peace,  of  which  we  have  seen  in  our  his- 
tory so  many  melancholy  examples.  After  the  war  was 
over  and  the  authority  of  the  government  restored,  he 
again  entered  the  civil  service  of  the  country.  I  am  not 
prepared  to  say  the  mind  of  General  Logan  was  adapted 
to  the  highest  achievements  of  statesmenship,  nor  do  I 
believe  that  an  example  can  be  found  in  the  history  of 
the  race  where  the  highest  military  qualities  and  those 
of  profound  constructive  statesmanship  have  been  united 
in  the  same  person.  Washington  and  Jackson  possessed 
great  administrative  abilities,  so,  in  my  judgment,  did 
Logan,  as  I  think  he  would  have  proven  had  he  lived  to 
attain  the  presidency.  Administrative  qualities  are 
akin  to  those  which  are  essentially  military.  Madison, 
though  the  most  learned,  thoughtful  and  profound  of 


456  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

our  early  constitutional  statesmen,  was  painfully  insig- 
nificant when  the  country  became  involved  in  war. 

"When  General  Logan,  after  the  war,  returned  to  the 
pursuits  of  civil  life,  he  found  a  party  already  organized 
which  possessed  the  confidence  of  the  country,  from  the 
results  of  the  war.  He  shared  its  temper  and  spirit  and 
at  once  became  one  of  its  leaders,  a  position  he  retained 
until  his  death.  He  was  not  a  doctrinaire  in  politics, 
but  essentially  a  man  of  action  and  a  leader.  He  co- 
operated with  his  party  in  its  efforts  to  maintain  its  as- 
cendancy, and  accepted  its  economic  and  financial 
theories ;  and  I  can  remember  but  two  instances  in 
which  he  displayed  his  own  personal  characteristics 
without  reference  to  his  party.  One,  and  the  most  sig- 
nificant of  these  instances  is  that  of  his  intense,  persis- 
tent and  almost  obstinate  resistance  to  the  restoration  of 
General  Porter  to  the  rolls  of  the  army.  The  story  of 
the  trial  and  conviction  of  General  Porter  by  a  court- 
martial  is  well  known  to  the  country,  and  his  efforts  to 
obtain  from  congress  a  reversal  of  the  sentence,  are 
equally  familiar.  The  burden  of  General  Porter  was  to 
prove  to  military  men  that  he  had  sufficient  reasons  for 
failing  to  execute  an  order  from  his  commanding  officer 
to  move  forward  and  prepare  to  take  part  in  the  battle. 

"General  Grant  (and  there  is  no  better  authority) 
after  a  careful  examination  of  the  evidence  now  before 
the  country,  has  decided  that  General  Porter's  reasons 
are  sufficient ;  but  I  will  always  believe  that  if  the 
15th  Army  Corps  under  the  command  of  Logan  had 
been  at  the  time  in  the  exact  situation  of  General  Porter 
and  his  corps,  he  and  his  corps  would  have  furnished 
more  satisfactory  evidence  of  their  disposition  to  move 
forward  and  take  part  in  the  impending  battle. 

"In  a  later  instance  General  Logan  refused  to  take 
part  in  the  local  disputes  of  Ohio  politicians  over  the 
charge  that  one  of  the  senators  in  congress  from  that 
state  had  obtained  his  election  by  corrupt  means.  I 
know  nothing  of  the  facts  of  this  case,  but  Logan  de- 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS— JOHN  A.  LOGAN.  457 

clined  to  be  dragooned  into  the  controversy,  and  learned 
as  a  consequence,  that  no  service  to  the  country  will  pro- 
tect a  public  man  from  the  fangs  of  angry,  disappointed 
politicians. 

"But  he  is  gone.  He  is  deaf  alike  to  the  voice  of 
praise  or  censure ;  his  comrades,  many  of  them  older 
than  he,  will  soon  folio  whim,  and  they  ask  for  him,  and 
for  themselves,  no  other  epitaph  than  'here  lies  one  who 
deserves  to  be  remembered  by  his  countrymen.'  " 


458  THE  STOKY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Marriage  of    the  author — Nomination  and    canvass  for  Governor  of 

Illinois. 

On  April  4, 1888,  I  was  married  a  second  time,  to  Mrs. 
Hannah  L.  Kimball,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  James  L.  Lamb, 
of  Springfield,  Illinois.  Mrs.  Kimball  was  the  widow  of 
Mr.  L.  R.  Kimball,  who  died  in  May,  1865.  She  is 
my  companion  and  amanuensis,  and  has  rendered  me  val- 
uable assistance  in  the  preparation  of  this  volume. 

On  May  22, 1888,  the  evening  before  the  meeting  of  the 
Democratic  convention,  I  called  upon  the  delegates  and 
candidates  for  the  nomination  for  the  different  offices  of 
the  state,  including  that  of  governor,  from  mere  cour- 
tesy, and  visited  Mr.  Sparks,  of  Clinton  county,  who 
was  a  prominent  candidate,  the  Macoupin  delegation, 
and  Judges  Anthony  Thornton  and  S.  B.  Moulton,  and 
was  surprised  by  the  suggestion  that  I  should  become  a 
candidate  for  the  nomination  by  the  convention  for  gov- 
ernor. I  declined  to  do  so,  alleging  my  age  as  an  apology 
for  my  declination,  when  I  was  told  by  the  gentlemen 
who  had  solicited  me  to  become  a  candidate,  that  I  would 
only  be  required  to  make  a  few  speeches  for  publication, 
and  "go  through  the  motions." 

I  told  them  that  the  Democratic  party  would  expect 
more  of  me  than  to  be  a  nominal  candidate,  and  that,  if 
a  candidate,  I  must  try  to  be  elected,  but  that  I  would 
take  an  hour  or  two  to  consult  my  friends  and  consider 
the  matter,  and  would  inform  them  of  my  decision  be- 
fore ten  o'clock  at  night.  After  a  brief  consultation  with 
a  few  friends,  and  those  who  had  a  right  to  advise  me,  I 
reported  to  the  gentlemen^who  had  proposed  the  nomina- 
tion to  me,  that,  "if  the  convention  made  the  nomination 
with  anything  like  unanimity,  I  would  accept  it,  but  that 
I  would  not  engage  in  a  struggle  for  the  nomination." 


NOMINATED  FOR  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  459 

The  convention  met  the  next  day  (May  23d) ,  with  Gen- 
eral Jesse  J.  Phillips  as  president,  and  nominated  me  as 
a  candidate  for  governor  on  the  first  ballot.  I  did  not 
expect  the  nomination,  and  had  only  promised  to  accept 
it  if  conferred  with  unanimity,  but  I  appeared  before  the 
convention  and  accepted  it.  I  made  my  own  issues  in  a 
speech  which  was  reported  as  follows : 

"MR.  CHAIRMEN  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVEN- 
TION— My  days  of  office-seeking  for  the  gratification  of 
ambition  are  over.  I  owe  services  to  the  Democratic 
party  of  the  state  and  to  the  people,  and  to  them  I  am 
willing  and  anxious  to  be  useful. 

"Without  preface,  therefore,  I  gratefully  accept  the 
nomination  conferred  upon  me,  and  I  will  exert  my  best 
efforts  to  give  your  whole  ticket  success.  I  do  not  sup- 
pose you  have  nominated  me  for  the  presidency  ;  I  sup- 
pose you  are  satisfied  with  the  man  who  was  nominated 
four  years  ago,  when  the  Democratic  party  vindicated  its 
wisdom  by  placing  in  nomination  for  the  presidency  its 
present  incumbent,  one  of  the  most  sensible,  practical, 
earnest,  patriotic  men  of  the  age  ;  nor  do  I  suppose  that 
you  have  nominated  me  for  the  senate  of  the  United 
States.  I  suppose  you  believe,  and  that  you  know  I  be- 
lieve, that  the  constitution  of  the  State  of  Illinois  is 
of  binding  obligation ;  and,  when  that  constitution  de- 
clares that  the  governor  of  the  state  shall  not  be  eligible 
to  any  office  during  the  term  for  which  he  was  elected, 
and  he  takes  an  oath  to  support  that  constitution,  you 
expect  it  to  be  obeyed.  When  I  had  the  honorto  be  gov- 
ernor of  this  state  years  ago,  I  said  'I  was  the  independ- 
ent governor  of  the  State  of  Illinois.'  I  asked  nothing 
of  the  legislature.  I  asked  them  to  do  their  duty  to  the 
people  ;  I  would  do  mine.  If  I  shall  be  elected  governor 
again,  I  will  again  be  the  independent  governor  of  the 
State  of  Illinois ;  and  I  will  ask  no  favors  of  anybody. 
I  gave  four  honest  years  of  service  before,  and  I  will  do 
so  again  if  the  people  of  this  state  shall  honor  me  with 
their  confidence.  And,  gentlemen  of  the  convention,  let 


460  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

me  say  to  you  that  the  time  has  come  when  the  people  of 
the  State  of  Illinois  should  be  considered  in  our  political 
canvasses.  We  have  devoted  years  to  the  making  of 
presidents.  Now,  Illinois  must  have  some  friends,  and 
we  must  now  appeal  to  the  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois 
to  look  after  their  own  interests,  and  inquire  why  things 
are  as  they  are  to-day. 

"We  must  inquire  why  it  is  that  taxation  has  increased 
and  is  increasing.  They  must  be  told  why  it  is.  They 
must  be  asked  why  it  is  that  the  state  has  become  an  ob- 
ject of  such  contempt,  that  standing  armies  are  raised  in 
its  midst  to  furnish  mercenaries  to  Pennsylvania  and 
Iowa — wherever  and  under  what  authority  they  act ;  how 
it  is  that  private  men  may  organize  soldiers  in  the  state, 
hirelings,  to  go  with  their  Winchesters  and  overawe  the 
people.  If  I  am  elected  governor  the  people  of  this 
state  shall  have  firm  government,  so  far  as  it  depends 
upon  me ;  as  firm  as  the  law  and  no  firmer ;  as  weak 
as  the  law  and  no  weaker. 

"The  government  of  the  State  of  Illinois  shall  not 
under  my  administration,  if  I  am  elected,  tempt  by  its 
feebleness  weak  men  to  crime,  and  then  hang  them  for 
it ;  and  men  shall  be  told  that  the  laws  are  supreme, 
that  the  law  will  furnish  redress  for  every  wrong,  that 
the  law  deserves  their  respect,  and  that  the  State  of 
Illinois  deserves  obedience  to  its  legislation.  The  in- 
terests of  the  people  of  Illinois  have  been  disregarded. 
We  have  been  but  a  mere  electoral  district.  The  gov- 
ernors of  the  state  have  only  regarded  this  honorable 
place  to  which  you  have  nominated  me  as  a  stepping 
stone  to  other  places.  They  have  filled  up  all  the  state 
boards,  penal,  educational,  reformatory  and  benevolent, 
with  rings  that  are  controlled  by  members  of  the  legis- 
lature, and  the  members  of  the  legislatures  in  turn 
make  senators  of  the  governors.  That  must  be  stopped. 
Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  if  I  shall  have  the  strength 
to  make  a  canvass  of  the  state  this  year  I  will  leave  the 
making  of  presidents  to  those  to  whom  you  have  assigned 


NOMINATED  FOR  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  461 

that  duty.  I  will  endeavor  to  talk  to  the  people  of  the 
State  of  Illinois  about  Illinois.  God  bless  her — I  love 
her  !  Her  people  are  worthy  of  the  best  services  of  the 
best  men  everywhere,  and  if  I  shall  be  elected  governor 
the  State  of  Illinois  shall  have  the  benefit  of  earnest, 
sincere  service  devoted  to  its  interests.  Let  Cleveland 
run  the  national  government,  that  is  his  business.  He 
won't  need  my  help,  and,  as  you  recollect  a  little  in- 
cident in  my  experience  of  years  ago,  I  shall  not  need 
his. 

"Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  I  promise  you  fair, 
earnest,  honest  service  during  this  canvass.  I  want  to 
see  the  canvass  conducted  in  Illinois  upon  plain,  square, 
practical  issues ;  that  there  shall  be  no  dodging  any- 
where ;  that  when  we  point  out  the  extravagance  or  the 
negligence  of  Republican  administrations  we  shall  not 
be  answered  by  hired  bands  playing  'Marching  through 
Georgia.'  I  shall  tell  the  people  what  the  people  have 
a  right  to  know,  and  it  will  be  no  answer  that  they 
shall  talk  to  us  about  the  beauties  of  protection  and  the 
advantages  of  shackling  commerce,  that  the  rich  may 
grow  richer  and  the  poor  may  grow  poorer.  Gentlemen, 
I  am  done." 

One  writer  says:  "The  occasion  evidently  inspired 
the  speech,  and  again  and  again  Governor  Palmer  was 
cheered  in  a  manner  that  made  the  great  hall  ring  long 
and  loud  with  his  praise,  for  this  was  the  first  occasion 
when  a  Democrat  or  Republican  had  dared  to  denounce 
the  spoils  system  of  politics  or  to  speak  plainly  of  the 
conduct  of  public  servants." 

The  same  writer  says:  "General  Palmer  made  his 
opening  speech  of  the  campaign  at  the  opera  house  in 
Springfield  the  latter  part  of  June.  .  .  .  But  at  the 
same  time  his  adversaries  were  not  idle,  liis  administra- 
tion while  governor  was  critically  reviewed  and  every 
supposable  weak  point  was  brought  to  the  surface,  and 
he  thus  became  the  object  of  universal  attack,  and 
official  reports  of  the  state  were  quoted  in  order  to-  make 


462  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  assaults  the  more  effective.  The  fact  that  he  had 
once  been  a  Republican  was  urged  as  a  reason  why  no 
Republican  should  vote  for  him.  He  was  accused  of 
courting  the  influence  of  the  anarchists,  and  an  anon- 
ymous circular  to  this  effect  was  spread  broadcast.  His 
controversy  with  General  Sheridan  at  the  time  of  the 
Chicago  fire  was  revived.  He  was  charged  with  resign- 
ing his  command  in  front  of  the  enemy,  and  Sherman's 
memoirs  were  cited  to  prove  the  charge.  General 
Palmer  bore  these  assaults  with  good  grace.  In  his 
opera  house  speech  he  had  anticipated  his  enemies  by 
saying  that  his  career  in  public  life  had  been  long  and 
varied  and  he  expected  to  have  a  great  deal  to  say  in  re- 
gard to  himself  before  the  close  of  the  campaign.  .  .  . 
He  held  that  his  administration  was  an  open  book,  that 
he  had  committed  no  act  while  governor  of  which  he 
was  ashamed,  he  concealed  nothing  and  gave  a  reason 
for  every  official  act  while  he  was  the  executive  which 
had  been  made  the  subject  of  the  campaign.  Some  of 
his  adversaries  in  their  public  speeches  not  infrequently 
advised  soldiers  to  'vote  as  they  shot,'  and  there  was  per- 
haps no  unkind  word  written  or  spoken  of  him  during 
the  heated  contest  that  so  touched  his  manly  pride  as 
did  the  attempt  to  cast  odium  upon  his  name  as  a  soldier, 
and  when  the  campaign  was  over  he  resigned  his  mem- 
bership in  the. Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  as  evidence 
of  the  displeasure  he  felt  toward  those  of  his  comrades 
who  had  allowed  political  prejudice  to  call  in  question 
his  acts  as  a  soldier." 

I  hope  that  I  may  be  permitted  to  add  from  the  same 
writer:  "The  canvass  of  the  state  by  General  Palmer 
was  regarded  as  the  most  illustrious  since  that  of  Douglas 
and  Lincoln  in  1858.  He  spoke  not  infrequently  to  ten 
thousand  people,  sometimes  in  the  scorching  sun,  some- 
times in  the  pattering  rain,  sometimes  by  the  dim  light 
of  the  torch,  but  always  with  a  power  and  clearness 
upon  the  questions  of  the  hour  that  arrested  the  atten- 
tion of  the  whole  country,  and  those  nearest  him,  who 


NOMINATED  FOR  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS.  463 

felt  the  public  pulse  as  he  mingled  with  the  masses,  as- 
sumed that  but  for  the  ever-pressing  influence  of  the 
national  campaign,  he  would  have  been  elected." — 
[Politics  and  Politicians  of  Illinois,  576-581.] 

On  June  19th,  I  had  an  appointment  to  speak  at  Lin- 
coln, Logan  county.  I  observed  that  the  older  politicians 
who  had  been  accustomed  to  defeat  kept  away  from  the 
meeting,  but  I  was  met  by  an  immense  number  of  young 
Democratic  voters,  who  insisted  upon  an  earnest,  ener- 
getic campaign.  I  asked  what  majority  they  would  give 
me  in  Logan  county,  which  before  that  time  had  given 
a  majority  to  the  Republicans?  One  of  the  persons  ad- 
dressed said,  "We  will  give  you  three  hundred."  Al- 
though I  had  some  doubts  about  their  ability  to  do  so,  I 
then  and  there  determined  to  make  the  canvass  ener- 
getically and  "for  all  that  was  out." 

During  the  canvass,  I  visited  all  parts  of  the  state, 
and  spoke  in  more  than  sixty  counties,  frequently  ad- 
dressing two  audiences  in  one  day,  and  spoke  to  thou- 
sands of  persons.  At  Streator,  it  was  charged  against 
me  that  I  was  in  the  service  of  the  railroads,  and  that 
Mr.  Paul  Morton  of  the  R.  I.  R.  R.  was  the  treasurer  of 
my  campaign. 

In  my  speech,  I  gave  an  account  of  every  cent  I  had 
received  and  the  names  of  the  donors.  It  did  not  exceed 
four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  but  the  name  of  Mr.  Mor- 
ton was  not  among  them,  as  I  had  never  known  him  or 
had  any  correspondence  with  him. 

Another  charge  was,  that  I  had  pledged  the  anarchists 
to  pardon  such  of  them  as  were  in  the  penitentiary.  In- 
deed, a  circular  imputing  that  purpose  and  pledge  from 
me  was  published  and  widely  circulated  throughout  the 
state.  To  that  charge  I  could  only  oppose  my  denial, 
but  the  facts  are,  that  a  brother  of  one  of  the  parties 
executed  called  upon  me  at  my  residence  in  Springfield 
one  morning  after  my  nomination  and  said  to  me  that 
"if  I  would  promise  to  pardon  the  anarchists  then  in  the 
penitentiary,  they  would  give  me  ten  thousand  votes." 


464  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

I  told  the  messenger  that  I  could  "make  no  pledges,  but 
that  the  anarchists  in  the  penitentiary  would  stand  upon 
the  same  footing  that  other  convicts  did."  I  have  good 
reason  to  believe  that  the  same  proposition  was  made 
to  my  opponent,  Governor  Fifer,  and  was  declined  by 
him. 

In  my  addresses,  I  advised  the  people  to  depend  upon 
the  laws  and  upon  the  officers  to  enforce  them.  I  said  I  had 
vetoed  the  bill  under  which  the  Pinkertons  were  organ- 
ized, and  felt  that  entrusting  police  powers  to  private  per- 
sons was  "dangerous  and  corrupting."  I  discussed  the 
railroad  question  and  asserted  the  right  of  the  state  to 
prohibit  combinations  and  trusts,  for  I  even  then  fore- 
saw, what  has  since  occurred,  the  formation  by  corpora- 
tions of  trusts  to  regulate  the  prices  of  products. 

I  was  defeated  by  12,547  votes.  Harrison's  plurality 
in  the  state  over  Cleveland  was  22,104.  The  Democrats 
hoped  for  my  election,  and  Fifer 's  friends  had  believed 
that  he  would  be  elected  by  a  plurality  of  30,000. 

It  was  claimed  that  the  anarchists  had  voted  for  me, 
but  when  the  vote  of  Cook  county  was  fully  canvassed, 
it  was  evident  that  such  was  not  the  case,  but  the  real 
facts  are,  that  Cook  county  was  carried  for  me  upon  the 
ground  that  I  had  done  so  much  for  Chicago  and  Cook 
county  at  the  time  of  the  great  fire. 


NOMINATED  FOR  U.  S.  SENATOR.  465 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Letter  to  Hon.  James  E.  Campbell — Meeting  and  action  of  Democratic 
state  convention — Speech  on  the  ratification  of  my  nomination — 
Letter  from  the  Hon.  W.  E.  Mason — My  reply. 

The  canvass  of  1888  satisfied  me  that  a  Democrat 
could  be  elected  to  the  senate  of  the  United  States  in 
1890  if  the  candidate  for  that  office  could  be  nominated 
by  the  Democratic  primaries  and  the  convention,  and  be 
permitted  to  canvass  the  state  as  the  recognized  candi- 
date of  the  Democratic  party.  In  addition  to  this  be- 
lief, I  think  senators  should  be  elected  by  the  people  of 
the  states,  and  not  by  the  legislatures,  and  that  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  should  be  so  amended  as 
to  make  that  course  admissible.  Accordingly,  on  March 
1,  1890,  I  wrote  to  the  Hon.  James  E.  Campbell,  Chair- 
man of  the  state  Democratic  committee,  the  following 
letter : 

"SPRINGFIELD,  March  1,  1890. 
"HoN.  JAMES  E.  CAMPBELL,  STREATOR,  ILLINOIS; 

4 'Dear  sir — I  have  your  favor  of  February  22d,  and 
would  have  answered  it  sooner,  but  I  have  been  both  busy 
and  sick.  I  am  satisfied  that  the  convention  ought  to 
meet  in  June  ;  any  day  in  that  month  would  be  suitable. 
I  saw  Mr.  Wright,  of  Petersburg,  a  few  days  ago  and 
expressed  my  views  to  him  fully.  I  cannot  be  in  Chi- 
cago on  the  6th  on  account  of  urgent  engagements.  I 
am  anxious  to  meet  the  committee  for  personal  reasons. 
While  I  desire  to  be  clearly  understood  with  reference  to 
the  senatorial  question,  I  am  in  no  sense  a  candidate  for 
the  senate.  All  that  I  have  ever  said  is,  that  I  think 
that  the  state  convention  ought  to  adopt  as  a  permanent 
rule  of  party  action  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  for 
the  senate,  and  that  if  my  view  of  party  policy  in  that 
30 


466  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EAKNEST  LIFE. 

respect  is  adopted,  I  would  accept  the  nomination  and 
make  the  canvass,  but  I  should  greatly  prefer  that  some 
other  person  should  be  nominated. 

"The  motive  that  leads  to  this  suggestion  is,  that  I 
do  not  desire  to  be  a  member  of  the  senate,  and  will 
only  consent  to  be  a  candidate  before  the  people  in  order 
to  vindicate  the  principle  of  electing  a  senator  by  popular 
vote  as  nearly  as  possible.  I  wish  it  to  be  understood  as 
not  urging  my  views  upon  the  party ;  on  the  contrary,  if 
there  is  any  considerable  opposition  to  the  plan  I  sug- 
gest, I  would  for  the  sake  of  harmony  advise  that  it  be 
abandoned. 

"We  will  carry  the  legislature  if  we  make  a  united, 
energetic  canvass.  Let  nothing  be  done  that  will  divide 
us,  or  dampen  the  enthusiasm  of  the  party. 

"Respectfully,         JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

The  committee  met  on  March  6th,  and  fixed  June  4, 
1890,  as  the  date  for  holding  the  state  convention,  and 
referred  it  to  the  Democracy  of  the  different  counties  to 
choose  delegates  to  the  convention,  and  to  express  their 
preference  for  or  against  the  nomination  of  a  Democratic 
candidate  for  the  senate. 

Before  the  meeting  of  the  convention,  more  than 
ninety  counties  (including  Cook)  of  the  one  hundred  and 
two  in  the  state,  had  met  in  their  primaries  and  de- 
termined that  a  candidate  should  be  nominated,  and  se- 
lected me  as  their  choice,  and  the  convention  unani- 
mously indorsed  me  for  the  nomination.  After  the 
ratification  of  my  nomination,  I  delivered  the  following 
address : 

"June  4,  1890.      . 

"GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION — In  1888,  the  De- 
mocracy of  Illinois  paid  me  in  full  for  all  the  services  I 
had  ever  rendered  them,  for  they  gave  me  every  vote 
they  could  command.  No  party  ever  did  better,  or  can 
do  better.  The  Democracy  of  Illinois  have  to-day  paid 
me  in  full  and  in  advance  for  all  I  can  hereafter  do  for 


NOMINATED  FOR  U.  S.  SENATOR.  467 

them  ;  they  have  nominated  me  as  their  candidate  for 
United  States  senator.  They  have  not  promised  to  elect 
me.  They  have  given  me  a  commission  to  go  out  and 
make  battle  for  Democratic  principles,  and  have  prom- 
ised to  do  all  they  can  to  help  me.  That  is  all  any  of  us 
can  promise  to  do.  But  it  must  not  be  understood  that 
the  Democracy  of  Illinois  intend  that  I  shall  go  out  and 
fight  everybody;  my  mission  is  a  very  peculiar  one. 
The  Democracy  of  Illinois  have  commissioned  me  in 
their  name  to  make  an  attempt  to  popularize  the  senate 
of  the  United  States.  I  am  not,  as  has  been  said  by 
some  of  my  friends  who  write  for  the  newspapers — I  am 
not  bound  as  an  expositor  or  definer  of  Democratic 
faith.  There  are  thousands  of  Democrats  in  the  state 
who  will  attend  to  that  job  whenever  required.  It  does 
not  need  any  special  champion.  The  fact  is,  there  is  a 
growing  feeling  throughout  the  country,  not  confined 
to  Illinois,  that  the  national  senate  is  becoming  an  ele- 
ment of  danger,  rather  than  of  good.  It  is  the  only 
body  of  officials  who  are  not  responsible  to  anybody. 
The  president,  when  nominated  by  the  national  conven- 
tion, although  he  takes  but  a  small  part  in  the  canvass 
that  precedes  the  election,  is  made  the  subject  of  criti- 
cism ;  his  whole  life  is  examined,  his  business  relations 
are  discussed,  and  at  last  the  people  pass  upon  the  men 
who  are  presented  to  them.  Not  so  with  a  senator. 
Sometimes,  as  is  found  in  this  state,  when  the  governor 
uses  his  patronage  while  occupying  the  position  of  chief 
magistrate  of  the  state,  and  later  on,  secures  the  ma- 
jority of  the  legislature,  when  the  legislature  assembles 
the  party  caucus  nominates  him,  he  .ceases  to  be  gov- 
ernor and  becomes  senator,  and  from  that  time  forth  he 
is  responsible  to  nobody.  He  travels  through  the  state 
during  the  pendency  of  the  elections,  and  criticizes  the 
candidates,  but  is  responsible  to  no  one. 

"It  is  the  purpose  of  the  Democracy  of  Illinois  that 
hereafter  when  a  senator  comes  into  the  state  somebody 
shall  take  care  of  him.  It  is  intended  hereafter  that  the 


468  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

senators  from  Illinois  shall  give  an  account  of  them- 
selves. Heretofore,  as  I  have  said,  they  have  traveled 
through  the  state  responsible  to  nobody.  National  ex- 
penditures are  increasing  at  a  fearful  rate.  The  new 
state  of  Montana  is  organized,  and  two  senators  stolen, 
and  we  are  threatened  with  an  election  law,  which  is  to 
make  our  representatives  just  what  the  party  in  power 
may  choose.  Our  senators  will  take  part  in  these  meas- 
ures, but  when  they  come  into  Illinois  it  is  the  purpose  of 
the  Democracy  that  they  shall  answer  for  their  conduct 
at  the  bar  of  public  opinion.  They  shall  be  asked  why 
the  people  of  the  State  of  Montana  are  not  allowed  to 
have  senators  who  represent  them !  They  will  be  re- 
quired to  respond  to  these  questions.  They  will  be 
asked,  what  have  the  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois 
done  that  the  power  and  control  over  their  own  elections 
shall  be  taken  from  them  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  ir- 
responsible federal  officials?  They  will  not  escape  by 
wrapping  their  senatorial  togas  around  them.  It  is  the 
intention  of  the  Democracy  that  these  men  shall  be 
compelled  to  answer.  Here  they  will  be  surrounded 
by  the  representatives  of  four  hundred  thousand  Demo- 
cratic votes,  and  an  answer  will  be  demanded.  That  is 
the  purpose  of  your  action  to-day,  not  to  provide  a 
champion  for  Democratic  principles,  not  the  sending 
forth  of  a  knight-errant  to  encounter  windmills.  The 
purpose  is,  that  hereafter  these  senators  shall  be  made 
responsible  to  the  people,  their  acts  shall  be  inquired 
into,  and  they  shall  be  called  to  respond  to  them  just 
as  other  people  are  required  to  do.  That  is  the  pur- 
pose of  the  movement ;  it  is  to  popularize  the  senate  of 
the  United  States. 

"In  other  states  gentlemen  have  found  evidence  that 
satisfies  many  people,  that  in  some  of  those  states  the 
request  of  a  senatorial  candidate  for  votes  is  expressed 
in  the  form  of  a  'check.'  It  will  be  the  purpose  of  the 
Democratic  party  that  such  'checks'  shall  not  pass  cur- 
rent in  senatorial  elections  hereafter,  but  that  the  conduct 


NOMINATED  FOR  U.  S.  SENATOR.  469 

of  those  officials  shall  be  investigated.  They  shall,  for  the 
first  time  in  our  history,  be  made  responsible  for  their 
conduct.  We  know  that  in  the  earlier  history  of  the  re- 
public, the  senator  was  regarded  as  so  much  the  serv- 
ant of  the  state  that  legislatures  instructed  them  as  to 
their  duty,  and  the  common  law  of  politics  of  that  time 
required  that  the  senator  should  obey  the  instructions 
given  by  the  legislature,  or  resign,  that  the  legislature 
could  elect  some  one  who  would  respect  the  wishes  of 
the  people  who  sent  him  to  the  senate.  But  all  that 
has  passed  by,  and  now  those  gentlemen  are  responsi- 
ble to  no  one.  The  party  caucus  actually  makes  the 
nomination,  the  majority  elects  him  for  the  time  being 
senator,  and  the  senator  is  under  no  obligations  to  an- 
swer for  his  conduct  to  anybody  ;  and  in  this  case  I  say 
the  action  of  the  Democratic  party  of  the  state  is  a 
warning  to  Mr.  Cullom,  a  monition  to  Mr.  Farwell,  and  to 
those  men  generally  of  the  Republican  party,  that  when 
they  think  proper  to  nominate  a  senator  they  will  do  it. 

"Well,  this  commission  will  be  a  burden  to  me,  and 
you  know  you  must  take  care  that  Democratic  princi- 
ples are  enforced.  There  are  thousands  of  Democrats 
all  over  the  state  while  this  work  on  this  charge  is  being 
performed  who  will  take  care  of  the  followers  behind. 
That  is  the  mission  on  which  you  have  sent  me. 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  I  trust  during  this 
canvass  I  may  be  able  to  render  an  additional  service  to 
the  Democratic  party  that  is  to  assure  them  of  my  belief 
that  Illinois  is  to-day  a  Democratic  state.  It  is  to  assure 
the  Democracy  of  the  state  that  the  time  has  come  when 
they  may  be  Democrats  without  forfeiting  their  social 
standing  or  injuring  their  character  as  church  members. 
That  now  public  opinion  has  so  far  changed  that  not 
only  is  that  true,  but  that  the  intellect  and  intelligence 
of  the  country  is  now  with  the  Democratic  party,  and 
the  work  of  the  party  from  this  time  forward  requires 
but  this,  that  the  old  men  should  remember  that  they 
still  owe  duties  to  their  country  which  will  last  as  long 


470  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

as  they  live  ;  that  the  men  in  middle  life  will  feel  that 
good  government  must  be  maintained  for  the  welfare  of 
their  children  ;  that  it  is  upon  the  young  men  we  must 
depend  in  this  struggle  ;  and  I,  for  one,  will  say  in  this 
campaign  I  want  to  be  regarded  as  a  captain  for  one 
purpose.  I  want  to  say  to  every  young  Democrat  in 
this  state,  that  you  have  the  right  to  go  forth  and  fight 
this  battle  for  good  government,  and  if  you  fight  it  earn- 
estly, you  will  win  it. 

"Most  of  the  Republican  party  believe  that  they 
should  stand  by  the  men  in  power,  and  their  patriotism 
requires  that  the  older  they  grow,  the  more  money  they 
should  receive.  They  have  succeeded  to  all  the  patriot- 
ism of  the  old  soldiers  in  the  army,  and  still  require  that 
you  should  pro  vide  for  their  noble  service  to  the  country. 
That  is  not  true  of  the  young  men,  and  you  will  now 
have  to  fight  for  the  principles  of  the  Democratic  party. 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Convention — It  is  not  necessary 
that  I  should  say  I  thank  you  most  profoundly  for  this 
additional  evidence  of  your  confidence.  I  thank  you 
with  my  whole  heart  for  your  kindness. 

"I  have  read  with  the  greatest  interest  the  proceed- 
ings of  your  county  convention,  and  the  kind  words 
spoken  of  me,  and  I  have  felt  grateful  to  all  of  you,  and 
I  shall  enter  upon  this  contest  with  all  the  energy  I  can 
employ  in  that  direction. 

"I  believe  sometimes  I  have  read  a  newspaper  pub- 
lished by  my  young  friend,  Mr.  Medill,  who  designates 
me  as  a  'decrepit  old  man.'  I  have  only  to  say  that  if 
he  does  not  quit,  I  will  treat  him  as  the  prophet  did  the 
boys — I  will  'set  the  bears'  on  him ;  I  will  set  the  bears 
on  those  juveniles  who  follow  me. 

"I  shall  endeavor  to  make  a  good  fight  for  a  good 
cause,  and  I  shall  call  on  one  and  all  of  you  to  do  your 
full  share  in  this  work. 

"There  is  to  be  no  'off  year'  in  politics  in  Illinois  any 
longer.  The  Democracy  of  Illinois  does  not  require  the 
incentive  of  a  presidential  election  to  bring  them  out  to 


NOMINATED  FOR  U.  S.  SENATOR.  471 

work.  And  this  should  be  no  'off  year.'  It  should  be 
one  of  labor  for  the  cause  of  right  and  justice,  and  that 
the  people  may  be  delivered  from  the  terrible  oppression 
under  which  they  now  labor.  Gentlemen,  I  repeat  my 
thanks,  and  with  that  I  am  done." 

During  the  summer  after  my  nomination  and  whilst 
engaged  in  the  canvass,  the  following  correspondence 
took  place : 

"WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  August  15,  1890. 

"HoN.  JOHN  M.  PALMER,  Springfield,  Illinois:  My  Dear 
Sir — I  have  read  what  purports  to  be  extracts  of  speeches 
made  by  you  in  regard  to  legislation  proposed  and  passed 
by  the  present  house  of  representative,  and  believing  the 
people  will  take  more  interest  in  it  and  understand  pub- 
lic questions  better  if  they  were  jointly  discussed,  I  there- 
fore very  respectfully  invite  you  to  meet  me  in  joint  dis- 
cussion upon  the  questions  which  have  been  pending  in 
the  fifty-first  congress.  I  desire  to  maintain  that  the 
action  of  the  Republican  party  on  the  silver,  tariff,  na- 
tional election,  anti-trust  and  pension  legislation  have 
been  more  for  the  interest  of  the  people  than  any  similar 
legislation  offered  or  passed  by  the  Democratic  party 
during  its  last  four  years  of  power. 

"I  suggest  these  questions,  as  I  desire  to  discuss  live 
issues,  but  will  take  up  any  other  question  you  may  de- 
sire, comparing  the  record  of  the  two  parties.  I  am 
sure  no  personalities  will  be  indulged  in,  and  I  am  led 
to  believe  you  will  receive  this  communication  in  the 
spirit  in  which  it  is  written. 

"Please  do  not  think  me  presumptuous.  I  know  your 
experience  and  ability  as  a  lawyer  and  as  an  orator, 
and  trusting  nothing  to  my  own  ability  but  wholly  to 
the  justice  of  my  cause,  I  desire  to  meet  you  in  joint 
discussion  as  suggested  herein. 

"Very  respectfully  yours,  WM.  E.  MASON." 


472  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"SPRINGFIELD,  ILLINOIS,  August  18,  1890. 
"HoN.   WM.  E.   MASON,   HOUSE  OF   REPRESENTATIVES, 
"WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

11  My  dear  sir — I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
yours  of  August  15,  1890,  in  which  you  say :  'I  have 
read  what  purports  to  be  extracts  of  speeches  made  by 
you  in  regard  to  legislation  proposed  and  passed  by  the 
present  house  of  representatives,  and  believing  the 
people  will  take  more  interest  in,  and  understand  public 
questions  better  if  they  were  jointly  discussed,  I  there- 
fore very  respectfully  invite  you  to  meet  me  in  joint  dis- 
cussion upon  the  questions  which  have  been  pending  in 
the  fifty-first  congress,'  and  you  express  a  desire  to  main- 
tain in  such  joint  discussion  that  the  'action  of  the  Re- 
publican party  on  the  silver,  tariff,  national  election, 
anti-trust  and  pension  legislation  have  been  more  for 
the  interest  of  the  people  than  any  similar  legislation  of- 
fered or  passed  by  the  Democratic  party  during  its  last 
four  years  of  power. '  The  Democratic  party  of  Illinois 
share  with  you  the  belief  that  the  people  take  more  in- 
terest in,  and  understand  public  questions  better,  if  they 
are  jointly  discussed  in  their  presence,  and  the  De- 
mocracy of  nearly  every  county  in  the  state  gave  expres- 
sion to  that  belief  when,  in  their  primary  meetings,  they 
declared  that  sound  policy  dictated  the  nomination  of  a 
candidate  for  a  senator  in  the  congress  of  the  United 
States,  and  did  me  the  honor  of  expressing  their  prefer- 
ence for  me  as  such  candidate ;  and  it  was  a  source  of 
profound  regret  and  something  of  a  surprise  not  only  to 
the  Democracy,  but  to  many  Republicans,  and  to  the 
large  class  of  voters  who  are  not  in  harmony  with  either 
of  the  leading  political  parties,  that  the  Republican 
state  convention  not  only  declined  to  nominate  a  candi- 
date for  the  senate,  but  refused  to  designate  a  dis- 
tinguished citizen  whose  name  I  am  informed  was  sug- 
gested, to  jointly  discuss  with  me  the  political  questions 
that  most  deeply  interest  the  people. 

"Understanding  from  these  facts  that  the  Republican 


NOMINATED  FOR  U.  S.  SENATOR.  473 

leaders  of  Illinois,  in  declining  to  name  any  one  of  its 
distinguished  men  (yourself  included)  for  whom  they 
are  willing  to  be  responsible  in  joint  discussion  such 
as  you  propose,  I  am  not  able  to  see  what  public  ad- 
vantage would  result  from  an  acceptance  of  your  in- 
vitation. 

"It  will  readily  occur  to  you  that  our  relations  to  the 
people  of  the  state  are  essentially  different.  A  very 
large  number  of  the  electors  of  the  state,  by  nominating 
me  as  a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the  United  States  senate, 
have  made  themselves  responsible,  not  only  for  my  po- 
litical opinions  and  conduct,  but  for  all  the  important 
acts  of  my  public  life,  while  on  the  other  hand,  the  po- 
litical party  to  which  you  are  attached  have  declined 
making  itself  responsible  not  only  for  you,  but  for  all 
others  of  its  public  men. 

"I  beg  to  assure  you  that  I  entertain  none  but  feelings 
of  personal  friendship  and  respect  for  you,  and  I  know 
no  gentleman  in  this  state  more  capable  of  vindicating, 
if  vindication  were  possible,  the  measures  to  which  you 
refer,  and  it  would  afford  me  the  greatest  satisfaction  if 
the  Republican  party  should,  before  the  election,  accept 
your  view  of  the  value  of  the  joint  discussion  of  public 
questions,  and  name  you  as  a  candidate  for  the  United 
States  senate.  In  such  an  event  it  would  be  my  duty, 
upon  an  intimation  of  your  wishes,  to  accept  an  invita- 
tion to  engage  in  such  joint  discussion  as  might  be  ar- 
ranged. "Respectfully, 

"JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

The  legislature  assembled  on  the  Tuesday  after  the 
first  Monday  in  January,  1891,  and  cast  one  hundred  and 
fifty-three  ballots  for  senator,  and  on  the  one  hundred 
and  fifty-fourth  ballot  I  was  elected,  March  11,  1891. 

The  legislature  consisted  of  one  hundred  Republicans, 
one  hundred  and  one  Democrats,  and  three  populists  who 
voted  for  their  candidate,  Mr.  Streeter.  The  Republi- 
cans voted  for  Governor  Oglesby  on  a  great  many  bal- 


474  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

lots,  but  finally,  with  the  aid  of  Dr.  Moore  and  Mr. 
Cockrell,  Populists,  I  was  elected. 

I  am  largely  indebted  to  the  speaker  of  the  house, 
Hon.  Clayton  E.  Crafts,  the  one  hundred  and  one  Demo- 
crats who  so  faithfully  adhered  to  me  for  one  hundred 
and  fifty-four  ballots,  and  hosts  of  other  friends,  re- 
membered if  not  mentioned. 


ELECTION  OF  SENATORS  BY  THE  PEOPLE.  475 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Take  my  seat  in  the  senate — Funeral  of  Senator  Plumb — Speech  on 
election  of  senators  by  the  people — Discussion  with  Mr.  Chandler. 

I  took  my  seat  as  senator  from  the  State  of  Illinois  on 
December  7,  1891,  and  was  assigned  to  the  following 
standing  committees:  "Military  Affairs,"  "Pensions," 
and  on  "Railroads,"  and  the  select  committee  "to  in- 
quire into  all  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United  States 
against  the  government  of  Nicarauga." 

Preston  B.  Plumb,  a  senator  from  Kansas,  died  on 
December  20,  1891,  and  I  was  appointed  one  of  the 
committee  to  accompany  his  remains  to  Emporia, 
Kansas,  with  Senators  Peffer,  Dolph,  Paddock  and 
Gordon.  We  proceeded  to  Emporia  by  way  of  In- 
dianapolis, Terre  Haute,  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City  and 
Topeka,  and  there  buried  our  late  associate. 

From  the  assembling  of  congress  after  the  holidays,  I 
took  part  in  the  debates  upon  all  the  important  ques- 
tions that  came  before  the  senate.  I  advocated  the 
admission  of  Fred  T.  Dubois  to  a  seat  in  the  senate 
from  the  State  of  Idaho.  Mr.  Dubois  was  opposed  upon 
the  ground  that  he  was  elected  on  December  16,  1890, 
which  was  the  second  Tuesday  after  the  organization  of 
the  legislature  of  Idaho. 

The  senate  of  Idaho  had  assembled  and  elected  a 
speaker  pro  tempore  and  a  secretary,  and  adopted  the 
rules  of  the  last  territorial  assembly,  and  provided  for 
the  drawing  of  seats  by  the  senators. 

I  maintained  that  the  senate  of  the  State  of  Idaho  was 
organized  for  the  purposes  of  the  act  of  congress  of  1866, 
and  that  the  election  of  all  the  officers  of  the  legislature 
were  pro  tern  as  long  as  the  legislature  would  continue 
them  in  office.  Mr.  Dubois  was  admitted  to  his  seat  in 
the  senate. 


476  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

On  February  18,  1892,  I  called  up  the  resolutions 
which  I  had  before  offered  for  adoption,  which  were  as 
follows,  and  afterwards  addressed  the  senate  in  the 
speech  given  below : 

"Resolved,  by  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives, 
etc.,  that  the  following  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  be  proposed  to  the  legislatures  of  the 
several  states,  which  when  ratified  by  the  legislatures 
of  three-fourths  of  the  several  states  shall  become  a  part 
of  the  constitution. 

"The  senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed 
of  two  senators  from  each  state,  chosen  by  the  people 
thereof  for  six  years,  and  each  senator  shall  have  one 
vote. 

"Electors  for  senators  in  each  state  shall  have  the 
qualifications  requisite  for  electors  of  the  most  numerous 
branch  of  the  state  legislature. 

"When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  of  any 
state  in  the  senate  by  resignation  or  otherwise,  the  exe- 
cutive authority  shall  issue  writs  of  election  to  fill  such 
vacancies. 

"At  any  election  for  senator  the  person  receiving  the 
highest  number  of  votes  shall  be  held  to  be  duly 
elected." 

"MR.  PRESIDENT — In  calling  the  attention  of  the 
senate  and  the  country  to  the  subject  of  an  alteration 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  shall 
provide  for  the  election  of  senators  in  congress  by  a 
direct  vote  of  the  people  of  the  several  states,  I  only 
obey  the  instructions  given  me  in  the  most  impressive 
manner  by  the  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois. 

"The  people  of  Illinois  are  loyal  to  the  constitution, 
and  are  devoted  to  the  principles  of  orderly,  constitu- 
tional free  government,  but  they  believe  that  the  election 
of  senators  by  the  state  legislature  under  existing  con- 
ditions has  failed  of  satisfactory  results,  and  that  the 
reform  proposed  by  the  joint  resolution  now  before  the 


* 

ELECTION  OF  SENATORS  BY  THE  PEOPLE.  477 

senate  is  demanded  alike  by  correct  principles  and  the 
highest  considerations  of  public  policy. 

"Influenced  by  a  knowledge  of  public  opinion,  the 
state  committee  of  the  Democratic  party  of  Illinois,  in 
1890,  in  connection  with  a  call  for  a  state  convention, 
submitted  to  the  electors  attached  to  that  party  two 
propositions  to  be  considered  and  determined  by  them 
in  their  primary  conventions.  These  propositions  were, 
in  substance,  first,  the  propriety  of  a  nomination  by  the 
proposed  state  convention  of  a  candidate  for  senator  to 
be  voted  for  by  the  people  at  the  next  election,  as 
directly  as  is  possible  under  the  provisions  of  the  con- 
stitution, and,  secondly,  the  selection  of  a  candidate  for 
senator  if  it  should  be  determined  that  a  candidate 
be  nominated. 

"The  election  of  a  senator  by  a  popular  vote,  which 
by  common  consent  should  control  members  of  the  legis- 
lature, was  not  novel  to  the  people  of  the  State  of 
Illinois,  for  they  were  familiar  with  the  history  of  the 
great  contest  of  1858,  when  Douglas  and  Lincoln  were 
spontaneously  chosen  to  represent  opposing  opinions 
upon  subjects  which,  by  their  gravity  and  importance, 
interested  and  excited  every  intelligent  voter  in  the 
state. 

"These  great  leaders  traversed  the  state  together ;  ad- 
dressed audiences  composed  of  thousands  of  citizens  at 
different  important  points  ;  and,  separating  from  time  to 
time,  each  pursued  his  own  canvass  until  they  were 
heard  by  a  majority  of  the  voters  of  the  state. 

"This  historical  contest  involved  principles  of  the 
most  profound  importance.  It  was  characterized  by  ex- 
hibitions of  oratory  and  logic  and  the  most  extensive 
knowledge  of  the  principles  of  free  government,  but  the 
questions  they  discussed,  like  the  great  actors  in  the 
drama,  have  passed  into  history,  or  live  only  in  the 
memory  of  the  few  who  still  linger  on  the  stage  of  ac- 
tive life. 

"The  conditions  which  existed  in  1890  and  now  are 


478  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

different  from  those  of  1858.  Then  the  questions  discussed 
involved  the  existence  of  the  Union.  The  great  civil  war 
which  soon  followed  was  foreseen  by  many,  though  but 
by  few  in  its  awful  proportions.  Now,  proposed  reforms 
in  the  government,  and  even  alterations  in  its  structure, 
may  be  considered  in  the  form  of  calm  reason,  enlight- 
ened by  experience. 

"The  result  of  the  submission  of  the  two  propositions 
before  mentioned  to  the  Democratic  electors  of  the  state 
was,  that  the  primary  conventions  held  in  more  than 
ninety  of  the  one  hundred  and  two  counties  of  the  state, 
including  the  county  of  Cook,  which  contains  now  nearly, 
if  not  quite,  one-fourth  of  its  population,  determined  to 
nominate  a  candidate,  and  indicated  their  preference  for 
the  person  to  be  presented  to  the  people. 

"The  state  convention,  which  was  held  on  June  4, 
1890,  gave  faithful  expression  to  the  popular  will.  It 
expressly  approved  the  plan  of  electing  senators  by  the 
direct  vote  of  the  people,  and  indorsed  the  candidate  for 
the  senate  selected  by  the  primary  conventions. 

"The  convention  also  adopted  a  platform  which  dis- 
tinctly and  clearly  expressed  the  opinions  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  of  Illinois  upon  subjects  which  relate  to  the 
administration  and  policies  of  both  national  and  state 
governments. 

"The  candidate  nominated  by  the  people  and  indorsed 
by  the  state  convention  accepted  this  platform  as  contain- 
ing a  substantial  expression  of  his  own  opinions  upon  all 
the  subjects  referred  to. 

"During  the  subsequent  canvass,  he  explained  and 
defended  the  principles  of  the  platform  in  many  addresses 
to  the  people  in  more  than  fifty  counties  of  the  state. 
Upon  the  issues  tendered  by  the  platform  adopted  by  the 
state  convention,  one  hundred  and  one  members  of  the 
state  legislature  (two  hundred  and  four  being  the  whole 
number)  were  elected  by  an  aggregate  plurality  of  more 
than  thirty  thousand  votes. 

"These  'one  hundred  and  one'  members  of  the  legis- 


ELECTION  OF  SENATORS  BY  THE  PEOPLE.         479 

lature,  regarding  themselves  as  electors  chosen  to  register 
the  will  of  their  constituents,  between  January  21,  1891, 
and  March  llth,  voted  for  the  candidate  nominated  on 
one  hundred  and  fifty-three  ballots,  and  on  the  one  hun- 
and  fifty-fourth  ballot  they  were  joined  by  two  members 
of  the  house  of  representatives  who  were  favorable  to 
the  election  of  senators  by  the  direct  vote  of  the  people 
of  the  several  states,  and  on  that  ballot  a  senator  was 
elected. 

"Mr.  President — I  am  here  to-day  the  senator  elected 
by  the  free  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  my  duty 
to  them  and  my  own  sincere  and  well-matured  convic- 
tions alike  require  me  to  urge  upon  the  senate  the  sub- 
mission to  the  legislatures  of  the  several  states  an  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  which  will 
provide  that  the  senators  shall  be  elected  by  the  direct 
vote  of  the  people  of  the  states. 

"Mr.  President — I  repeat,  in  substance,  what  I  have 
before  said,  that  the  constitutional  mode  of  electing  sen- 
ators by  the  legislatures  of  the  states  is  no  longer  satis- 
factory to  the  American  people. 

"I  do  not  mean  to  make  myself  responsible  for  the 
charges  of  bribery  and  undue  influence  which  attend 
nearly  every  senatorial  election  by  indorsing  or  repeating 
any  of  them,  and,  in  referring  in  even  this  slight  manner 
to  them,  I  do  so  only  to  emphasize  the  statement  I  have 
heretofore  made,  that  the  people  no  longer  confide  in, 
but  are  profoundly  distrustful  of,  the  methods  of  electing 
senators  by  the  state  legislatures. 

"It  is  not  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  popular  dissatis- 
faction with  the  present  mode  of  electing  senators  to  say 
that  it  is  the  method  provided  by  the  constitution. 

"Mr.  President — Much  of  that  profound  reverence  en- 
tertained by  the  friends  of  a  free  government  throughout 
the  world  for  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  results 
from  an  association  of  the  instrument  with  the  names  of 
the  patriots  and  statesmen  who  composed  the  convention 
of  which  Washington  was  the  president. 


480  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"It  is,  however,  a  fact  disclosed  by  contemporary  his- 
tory, that  the  constitution  at  the  time  of  its  adoption 
was  regarded  by  many  of  the  most  distinguished  mem- 
bers of  the  convention  as  an  experiment  of  extremely 
doubtful  success,  and  that,  while  some  members  of  the 
convention  refused  to  sign  the  constitution,  or  make 
themselves  responsible  for  its  provisions,  others  approved 
it  upon  the  ground  that  whatever  its  defects  might  be 
it  was  preferable  as  a  framework  of  government  to  the 
articles  of  confederation  to  which  it  would  succeed. 

"The  provisions  in  the  constitution  for  its  own  amend- 
ment, by  peaceable,  orderly  methods,  was  one  of  the 
happiest  conceptions  of  profound  statesmanship ;  and 
that  it  was  placed  in  the  constitution  justifies  the  belief 
that  even  the  necessity  for  a  new  system  of  government 
would  not  have  been  sufficient  to  secure  the  acceptance 
of  the  constitution  by  the  requisite  number  of  states  if 
it  had  not  been  for  the  confident  expectation  entertained 
by  many  that  it  would  thereafter  be  improved  by  essen- 
tial amendments. 

"It  may  well  excite  surprise  that  the  framers  of  the 
constitution,  who  were  familiar  with  the  long  struggle 
in  England  to  secure  popular  rights,  neglected  to  pro- 
vide in  the  constitution  securities  for  freedom  in  the 
exercise  of  religion,  free  speech,  a  free  press ;  the  right 
of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble  and  petition  the 
government  for  a  redress  of  grievances ;  the  right  to 
bear  arms ;  the  right  to  be  secure  in  their  persons, 
houses,  papers  and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches 
and  seizures  and  against  general  warrants  not  supported 
by  oath  or  affirmation ;  and  that  they  failed  to  provide 
by  the  constitution  that  no  person  should  be  held  to  an- 
swer for  a  capital  or  otherwise  infamous  crime  unless  on 
a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  grand  jury ;  nor  did 
they  provide  protection  for  the  citizen  against  being  put 
twice  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb  for  the  same  offense, 
or  against  being  compelled  to  bear  witness  against  him- 
self, nor  place  his  life,  liberty  and  property  under  pro- 


ELECTION  OF  SENATORS  BY  THE  PEOPLE.  481 

tection  of  due  process  of  law.  Private  property  was 
not  protected  from  being  taken  for  public  use  without 
compensation,  nor  was  there  secured  to  citizens  accused  of 
crime  the  right  to  a  speedy  and  public  trial  by  an  impar- 
tial jury  of  the  legal  or  actual  vicinage,  nor  the  right  to  be 
informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation  against 
him  ;  to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him  ; 
to  have  compulsory  process  for  having  witnesses  in  his 
favor  and  the  assistance  of  counsel  in  his  defense ;  nor 
did  the  constitution  as  it  came  from  the  hands  of  the 
convention  afford  protection  against  the  demands  of  ex- 
cessive bail,  nor  the  imposition  of  excessive  fines,  or  the 
infliction  of  cruel  or  unusual  punishments. 

"To  remedy  the  obvious  omission,  and  to  provide 
adequate  security  for  the  protection  of  these  important 
rights,  the  first  congress  which  assembled  under  the  con- 
stitution proposed  ten  amendments  to  the  legislatures  of 
the  states  for  their  approval.  These  amendments  were 
adopted,  and  became  a  part  of  the  constitution.  The 
constitution  we  reverence  is  not  the  fragment  prepared 
by  the  convention,  but  the  complete  instrument  perfected 
by  the  amendment. 

"Five  additional  amendments  to  the  constitution  have 
since  been  adopted.  Of  these,  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth,  grew  out  of  conditions  which  could  not 
have  been  foreseen  or  provided  for  by  the  most  saga- 
cious statesmen ;  but  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  amend- 
ments are  organic,  and  were  devised  to  cover  original 
defects  in  the  government. 

"The  framers  of  the  constitution  found  but  little  diffi- 
culty in  the  application  of  the  principle  then  as  now  so 
important,  of  distributing  the  powers  of  the  govern- 
ment to  three  independent  departments,  or,  as  it  is  well 
expressed  in  the  constitution  of  one  of  the  states,  'those 
powers  of  government  which  are  executive,  to  one  de- 
partment, and  those  which  are  legislative  to  another, 
and  those  which  are  judicial  to  another.' 
31 


482  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"But  the  method  of  selecting  the  person  to  execute 
the  duties  and  discharge  the  functions  pertaining  to 
the  several  departments  was  the  subject  of  profound 
differences  of  opinion  among  the  members  of  the  con- 
vention, and  of  extensive  debate.  It  is  said  that  the 
proposition,  'that  the  national  legislature  ought  to  con- 
sist of  two  branches,'  was  agreed  to  without  debate  or 
dissent,  except  that  of  Pennsylvania,  given  probably 
from  complaisance  to  Dr.  Franklin,  who  was  said  to  be 
partial  to  a  single  house  of  legislation. 

"It  is  manifest  that  there  prevailed  in  the  convention 
the  most  profound  distrust  of  popular  elections.  It  was 
conceded,  indeed,  that  an  election  of  one  branch,  at 
least  of  the  proposed  legislature  by  the  people,  imme- 
diately was  a  clear  principle  of  free  government.  Mr. 
Gerry,  whose  name  is  connected  in  modern  political  life 
with  a  practice  which  is  invariably  denounced  by  minori- 
ties, conceded  that  much.  He  said:  'It  was  necessary 
that  the  people  should  appoint  one  branch  of  the  govern- 
ment, in  order  to  inspire  them  with  confidence,'  but  he 
wished  the  'other  to  be  so  modified  as  to  secure  a  just 
preference  of  merit.' 

"The  organization  of  the  senate  was  for  more  than  one 
reason  a  matter  of  difficulty  ;  the  small  states  demanded 
equal  representation  in  the  senate,  and  this  was,  as  we 
know,  ultimately  yielded.  But  it  is  probable  that  the 
general  purpose  of  the  convention  in  the  organization  of 
the  senate  and  in  the  election  of  senators,  was  expressed 
by  Mr.  Dickinson,  who  said  he  wished  'the  senate  to 
consist  of  the  most  distinguished  characters,  distinguished 
for  their  rank  in  life  and  their  weight  of  property,  and 
bearing  as  strong  a  likeness  to  the  English  house  of  lords 
as  possible,'  and  he  thought  'such  characters  most  likely 
to  be  selected  by  the  state  legislatures,  than  by  any 
other  mode.'  Mr.  Madison,  sharing  the  same  feeling, 
said  :  'The  use  of  the  senate  is  to  consist  in  its  proceed- 
ing with  more  coolness,  with  more  system  and  with  more 
wisdom  than  the  popular  branch.'  On  another  occasion 


ELECTION  OF  SENATORS  BY  THE  PEOPLE.  483 

he  said  'he  was  an  advocate  for  refining  popular 
appointments  by  successive  filtrations,'  but  thought 
'it  might  be  pushed  too  far.'  He  wished  'the  ex- 
pedient to  be  resorted  to  only  in  the  second  branch  of 
the  legislature  and  the  executive  and  judiciary  branches 
of  the  government.'  Considerations  like  these  largely 
influenced  the  convention  to  confide  the  election  of 
senators  to  the  legislatures  of  the  states.  Perhaps  it 
will  excite  surprise  to  persons  who  are  familiar  with  ex- 
isting conditions,  to  be  reminded  that  another  of  the  ob- 
jects intended  to  be  accomplished  by  the  election  of  sen- 
ators by  the  state  legislatures,  was  that  of  protecting  the 
commercial  and  moneyed  interests.  It  was  argued  in 
the  convention  'that  the  commercial  and  moneyed  inter- 
ests would  be  more  secure  in  the  hands  of  the  state  legis- 
latures, than  of  the  people  at  large.'  The  former  has 
more  strength  of  character,  and  will  be  restrained  by 
that  from  injustice. 

"And  then,  to  illustrate  their  incapacity,  it  was  added  : 
'The  people  are  for  paper  money,  and  the  legislatures 
are  against  it.'  In  Massachusetts,  the  county  conven- 
tions had  declared  a  wish  for  'a  depreciating  paper  that 
would  sink  itself.' 

"At  that  time  the  'planting  states,'  as  they  were 
termed,  were  the  wealthiest,  and  their  influence  was 
dreaded  by  the  commercial  states  of  the  East  and  North. 
What  marvelous  changes  time  has  produced !  The 
'commercial  and  moneyed  interests'  are  now  most 
potent.  They  have  representation  in  every  department 
of  the  government. 

"I  do  not  concede  that  the  framers  of  the  constitution 
properly  estimated  the  intelligence  and  capacity  of  the 
then  people  of  the  several  states.  Most  of  the  members 
of  the  convention  were  themselves  still  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  inherited,  aristocratic  ideas,  and  were  with- 
out experience  of  the  successful  working  of  popular  in- 
stitutions. They  were  surrounded  by  the  most  dis- 
couraging circumstances ;  the  separate  American  states 


484  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

in  their  aggregate  territory  were  but  a  strip  between  the 
ocean  and  the  mountains  ;  they  were  without  an  adequate 
government,  without  commerce,  without  credit  or  es- 
tablished industry.  With  the  aid  of  France,  they  had 
but  lately  succeeded  in  establishing  their  independence, 
which  Great  Britain  had  yielded  with  haughty  contempt 
for  their  poverty  and  weakness. 

"The  inefficiency  of  the  articles  of  confederation  led  to 
the  calling  of  the  convention,  and  the  objeet  of  the  lead- 
ing members  of  the  convention  was  to  provide  a  new 
government,  founded  on  popular  rights,  which  should  at 
the  same  time  produce  stability  and  strength. 

"Having  these  objects  in  view  in  the  formation  of  the 
new  government,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  framers  of 
the  constitution  feared  that  to  allow  the  people  a  larger 
participation  in  the  direct  control  of  the  government, 
would  be  to  introduce  into  the  system  an  element  of 
weakness. 

"In  this  apprehension,  no  doubt,  the  authors  of  the 
constitution  were  mistaken,  for  experience  has  demon- 
strated that  whenever  any  portion  of  the  American 
people  have  been  intrusted  with  political  power  they  have 
been  equal  to  its  responsibility.  They  enter  and  occupy 
new  territories  in  multitudes,  and  at  once  improvise 
governments  and  establish  order. 

"The  Americans  of  that  day  would,  like  their  descend- 
ants have  been  equal  to  their  responsibilities  and  have 
added  strength  to  the  fabric  of  the  government  of  the 
constitution.  They  were  brave,  patriotic  and  self-deny- 
ing ;  they  were  not  instructed  in  the  learning  of  the 
schools,  but  they  loved  liberty  and  order,  and  were  mas- 
ters of  the  art  of  self-help  and  self -care,  which  is  the 
most  useful,  if  not  the  noblest,  education. 

"If,  however,  it  was  conceded  that  the  framers  of  the 
constitution  properly  estimated  the  intelligence  of  the 
people  of  that  day,  we  cannot  be  blind  to  the  changes 
produced  by  a  century  of  progress. 

"It  is  easy  to  compare  the  American  republic,  which, 


ELECTION  OF  SENATORS  BY  THE  PEOPLE.  485 

at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  was  only 
able  to  ask  of  Great  Britain,  in  terms  not  amounting  to 
a  demand,  a  compliance  with  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of 
peace,  and  which  begged  the  privilege  of  sharing  the 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi  river,  with  the  great  re- 
public of  to-day,  composed  of  forty-four  organized  and 
powerful  states  which  extend  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific  ocean ;  from  the  great  lakes  to  the  gulf,  and  to 
the  line  that  separates  the  United  States  from  Mexico, 
which  is  threaded  by  systems  of  railways  of  which  our 
fathers  never  dreamed,  with  a  population  approaching 
seventy  millions,  and  with  an  external  commerce  proba- 
bly as  great  as  was  that  of  the  world  a  century  ago. 

"But  it  is  not  in  material  respects  alone  that  the 
United  States  have,  within  the  century,  accomplished  so 
much,  for,  in  1787,  liberal  culture  was  the  exception ;  in 
1892,  it  is  the  rule. 

"Now,  the  school-house  dots  every  neighborhood, 
youthful  libraries  are  found  in  every  village,  institutions 
for  higher  culture  are  open  to  the  humblest  student,  and 
the  newspaper,  with  its  many  million  sheets,  reaches 
daily  the  most  obscure  settlement,  and  the  telegraph 
and  telephone  have  annihilated  time  and  distance,  and 
steam,  a  comparatively  new  force,  is  almost  obsolete, 
now  that  the  lightning  is  made  subject  to  the  require- 
ments of  human  necessities. 

"But  few  public  men  can  be  found  who  do  not  recog- 
nize the  intelligence  of  those  who  control  the  instru- 
ments of  modern  industry,  and  those  who  are  engaged 
in  what  were  once  the  sober  and  quiet  pursuits  of  agri- 
culture, quickened  by  the  consciousness  that  the  products 
of  their  acres  are  by  the  modern  means  of  communica- 
tion and  transportation  brought  into  competition  with 
every  productive  acre  on  the  globe,  are  asserting  their 
right  to  participate  in  the  direct  control  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

"It  may  be  lamented,  but  it  is  true,  that  the  peaceful 
contentment  of  farm  life  is  no  longer  found  anywhere, 


486  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

since  the  farmers  are  but  the  manufacturers  of  the  raw 
material  of  commerce,  and  have  become  necessarily  rest- 
less students  of  political  and  social  economy. 

"From  what  I  have  said,  the  conclusion  is  inevitable 
that  none  of  the  reasons  which  led  the  framers  of  the 
constitution  to  deprive  the  people  of  the  direct  control 
of  the  executive  department  and  of  the  senate  now  ex- 
ists. Experience  long  ago  demonstrated  the  uselessness 
of  the  electors  as  agents  for  the  selection  of  presidents 
and  vice-presidents.  Electors  are  now  but  counters  for 
the  enumeration  of  the  votes  of  the  states — the  John 
Does  and  Richard  Roes  of  our  political  system. 

"The  propositions,  I  repeat  and  seek  to  maintain,  are, 
that  the  constitution  should  be  so  amended  that  the  elec- 
tion of  senators  should  be  taken  from  the  state  legisla- 
tures and  conferred  upon  the  people,  to  be  exercised  by 
them  directly.  Specific  proof  of  the  incapacity  of  the 
legislatures  to  exercise  electoral  functions,  and  of  the 
capacity  of  the  people  to  do  so,  will  be  found  on  exam- 
ination of  the  revised  and  amended  constitutions  of  the 
older  states  and  of  the  new  states  modeled  after  them. 
It  will  be  sufficient  for  my  purposes,  and  tend  to  brevity, 
for  me  to  refer  to  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of  Illi- 
nois ;  that  is,  the  original  constitution  of  1818,  under 
which  the  territory  of  Illinois  was  admitted  into  the 
Union,  and  the  revised  constitutions  of  1848  and  1870. 

"The  territory  of  Illinois  extended  from  the  Wabash 
to  the  Mississippi  and  from  the  Ohio  to  Lake  Michigan. 
Almost  the  entire  population  was  south  of  the  present 
capital  of  the  state,  while  the  northern  half  was  what, 
in  1818,  seemed  limitless  prairie.  The  population  of  the 
northern  half  was  so  sparse  that,  as  late  as  1821,  Chi- 
cago was  described  in  a  book  of  authority  as  'the  village 
at  the  mouth  of  Calamick  creek,  in  Pike  county.'  The 
emigrants  to  Illinois  territory  were  the  pioneers  of  civil- 
ization, chiefly  from  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas,  who 
had  found  their  way  through  Tennessee  and  Kentucky. 
Soon  after  they  crossed  the  Ohio,  their  emigrations  were 


ELECTION  OF  SENATORS  BY  THE  PEOPLE.  487 

checked  by  what  seemed  to  be  the  dreary  waste  of  the 
central  and  northern  portions  of  the  territory. 

"The  people  I  have  attempted  to  describe  were,  be- 
yond anything  that  we  can  now  conceive,  jealous  of  the 
executive  authority,  and,  therefore,  by  the  constitution 
of  1818,  they  reserved  to  themselves  the  election  of  a  gov- 
ernor, but  surrounded  him  with  a  council  of  revision, 
consisting  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court,  and  then, 
apparently  distrusting  themselves,  they  provided  that 
the  justices  of  the  supreme  court  and  the  judges  of  the 
inferior  courts  should  be  appointed  by  both  branches  of 
the  legislatures.  The  constitution  further  provided  that 
the  justices  of  the  peace  should  be  appointed  in  such 
manner  as  the  general  assembly  should  direct,  and  the 
legislature  was  authorized  to  appoint  the  executive 
officers  of  the  state  government,  with  the  exception  of 
the  secretary  of  state. 

"Under  the  constitution  of  1818  the  legislature  was 
omnipotent,  and  it  is  difficult  to  describe  the  extent  to 
which  it  abused  its  powers.  It  established  a  visionary 
system  of  internal  improvements  and  elected  commission- 
ers to  execute  the  contemplated  public  works  with  au- 
thority to  sell  the  bonds  of  the  state  in  domestic  and 
foreign  markets,  by  which  means  a  public  debt  was 
created  so  enormous,  that  when  the  people  in  1847 
called  a  convention  to  revise  the  constitution,  poverty 
and  distress  prevailed  on  every  hand.  The  legislature 
also  reorganized  the  judiciary,  and  elected  four  additional 
justices  to  the  supreme  court. 

"The  convention  of  1847  made  many  valuable  changes 
in  the  existing  constitutions .  It  prepared  and  submitted 
to  the  people  a  provision  for  the  payment  of  the  state 
debt,  which  the  people,  with  that  sturdy,  rugged  honesty 
and  courage  which  has  always  characterized  the  people 
of  Illinois,  adopted  by  their  direct  vote,  and  saved  them- 
selves and  their  posterity  from  the  shame  of  repudi- 
ation. 

"I  hope  I  may  be  pardoned  when  I  pause  and  say 


488  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

with  feelings  of  pride  that  I  assisted  in  the  preparation 
of  this  proposition.  I  voted  for  it  as  one  of  the  freemen 
of  the  state,  and  that  in  1869,  while  governor,  and  the 
currency  of  the  country  was  depreciated,  Illinois  paid 
its  debt  in  gold.  The  convention  of  1847,  however,  did 
more,  for  it  deprived  the  legislature  of  all  electoral 
power ;  it  provided  for  the  election  of  governor,  and  all 
the  executive  officers  of  the  state,  and  the  justices  of  the 
supreme  court,  and  the  judges  of  the  inferior  courts,  by 
direct  vote  of  the  people,  and  further  provided  that  no 
officer,  whether  created  by  the  constitution  or  the  laws, 
should  thereafter  be  elected  by  the  legislature. 

"I  confess,  that  as  a  member  of  the  constitutional 
convention  of  1847,  I  submitted  to  the  plan  proposed  for 
the  election  of  the  justices  of  the  supreme  court  by  the 
people  with  reluctance ;  it  was  an  experiment  then, 
which  has  vindicated  itself,  and  the  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  elected  by  the  people  have 
justified  the  highest  hopes  of  those  who  favored  the  in- 
novation. The  illustrious  names  of  the  men  who  have 
composed  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  are  known  and 
honored  by  the  legal  profession  throughout  the  Union. 

"The  constitutional  convention  of  1870  adopted  many 
improvements  in  the  state  constitution,  and  re-enacted 
the  provision  of  the  constitution  of  1848,  which  deprived 
the  state  legislature  of  all  electoral  authority. 

"Mr.  President,  if  it  was  possible,  it  would  be  wise  to 
incorporate  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
many  of  the  reforms  to  be  found  in  the  improved  con- 
stitution of  Illinois  and  other  states  for  the  protection  of 
popular  rights. 

"I  ought  now  to  say  that  in  the  election  of  senators 
the  legislature  of  Illinois  is  subject  to  such  criticisms 
only  as  may  be  fairly  directed  toward  the  conduct  of 
legislatures  of  other  states. 

"It  is  true,  that  it  has  been  charged  at  different  times 
that  the  votes  of  members  have  been  controlled  by  federal 
patronage,  and  instances  have  occurred  where  federal  ap- 


ELECTION  OF  SENATORS  BY  THE  PEOPLE.  489 

pointments  were  given  to  members  of  the  legislature 
very  soon  after  they  had  voted  for  the  successful  can- 
didate, and  in  one  memorable  case  a  long  struggle  in 
the  state  legislature  was  determined  by  the  death  of  a 
member  of  the  house  of  representatives  who  was  a  sup- 
porter of  one  of  the  candidates,  and  the  election  of  a 
1  member  who  supported  his  leading  competitor. 

"It  has  been  charged  by  one  party,  and  confessed  by 
the  other,  that  the  vacancy  was  filled  by  an  ingenious 
trick  practiced  upon  the  very  large  Democratic  majority. 
It  has  never  been  claimed  that  the  representative  from 
the  thirty-fourth  district  of  Illinois  represented  the 
people  of  the  district,  nor  has  it  been  denied  that  if  the 
people  of  the  district  had  known  he  was  a  candidate  he 
would  have  been  defeated. 

"The  vote  of  the  member  from  the  thirty-fourth  dis- 
trict elected  one  of  my  most  distinguished  predecessors. 

"And  it  has  'gerrymandered*  the  state  in  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  congressional  and  legislative  districts,  and 
for  this  a  remedy  seems  impossible  ;  but  if  the  constitu- 
tion is  amended  to  permit  the  election  of  senators  by 
the  direct  vote  of  the  people,  then  the  'gerrymander' 
will  no  longer  influence  the  choice  of  senators,  but  will 
in  that  respect  at  least  pass  into  'innocuous  desuetude.' 

"I  will  not  assert,  but  I  confess  that  I  doubt  whether 
the  legislative  districts  in  any  state  are  so  adjusted  as 
to  allow  a  fair  and  just  expression  of  the  popular  will 
in  the  selection  of  representatives  in  either  branch  of 
the  state  legislature. 

"I  do  not  by  this  intend  to  assail  the  conduct  of  any 
political  party,  for,  while  states  are  'gerrymandered'  to 
serve  the  purposes  of  political  parties,  other  causes  have 
operated  to  produce  unfair  apportionment  in  state  legis- 
latures. 

"The  president,  in  his  late  annual  message,  called 
the  attention  of  congress  and  the  country  to  one  instance 
which  he  apprehends  may  operate  to  defeat  the  popular 
will  in  one  of  the  states  in  the  choice  of  presidential 


490  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

electors.  The  words  of  the  president  are  entitled  to  the 
most  profound  respect,  but  he  knows,  as  we  do,  that  the 
'trail  of  "the  gerrymander"  is  "over  them  all."  ' 

"The  elections  for  the  choice  of  presidential  electors, 
the  election  of  members  of  the  legislature  who  elect 
senators,  the  election  of  members  of  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives in  congress,  are  alike  influenced  and  often 
controlled  by  the  unfair  arrangements  of  districts. 

"If  the  amendment  which  I  propose  is  adopted,  the 
members  of  the  senate  of  the  United  States  will  be 
chosen  by  the  direct  vote  of  the  free  people  of  the  sev- 
eral states,  and  will  be,  what  it  never  yet  has  been,  the 
popular  branch  of  the  congress  of  the  United  States. 

"There  is  one  additional  consideration  to  which  I  call 
the  attention  of  the  senate.  In  1787,  the  property  of 
the  country  was  of  small  value  ;  in  1892,  its  value  can 
not  be  expressed  in  terms  which  can  be  comprehended  by 
the  ordinary  mind.  In  1787,  it  was  believed  by  many 
that  the  security  of  property  would  be  endangered  by 
the  direct  participation  of  the  people  in  the  election  of 
senators ;  now,  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people 
are  threatened  by  the  overwhelming  and  all-pervading 
influence  of  property.  It  is  not  necessary,  in  order  to 
make  myself  understood,  that  I  should  assail  or  de- 
nounce those  who  control  the  enormous  aggregates  of 
either  fixed  or  speculative  property  ;  it  is  enough  to  point 
to  the  irresistible  logic  of  existing  conditions,  the  property, 
or  to  use  more  expressive  words,  the  wealth  invested  in 
commerce,  in  manufactures,  in  the  railways,  the  for- 
ests, the  mines,  and  in  the  myriad  forms  of  organized 
activity,  demands  legislation  for  its  protection  or  its 
benefit,  and  its  political  power,  whether  employed  in  the 
congress  of  the  United  States  or  in  the  state  legislature, 
rarely  fails  of  success.  Organized  as  it  is  it  is  so  re- 
lated that  it  can  direct  its  influence  to  the  attainment  of 
any  desirable  end. 

"Mr.  President,  the  property  to  which  I  have  alluded 
has  now  nothing  to  fear  from  the  aggressive  action  of 


ELECTION  OF  SENATORS  BY  THE  PEOPLE.  491 

the  people,  or  from  their  direct  influence  upon  the  gov- 
ernment. All  they  can  gain  by  the  amendment  to  the 
constitution  I  have  proposed,  will  be  enlarged  powers  of 
self-defense. 

"Senators  to  be  hereafter  elected  by  the  people  by 
their  direct  votes  will  be  their  true  and  exact  represen- 
tatives and  will  defend  their  homes  and  their  property 
from  unequal  and  excessive  burdens.  They  will  dignify 
the  states,  for  the  people  are  the  states.  They  will 
recognize  their  responsibility  to  the  people  who  elect 
them,  and  they  will  find  their  reward  in  the  approval  of 
their  fellow-citizens  whom  they  have  faithfully  served." 
—  [United  States  senate,  February  18,  1892.] 

On  April  12,  1892,  Mr.  Chandler,  of  New  Hampshire, 
answered  the  speech  just  quoted,  and  I  give  so  much  of 
his  reply  as  is  pertinent : 

"Mr.  Chandler,  of  N.  H.  .  .  .  Mr.  President,  the 
senator's  record  as  a  Republican  was  distinguished.  He 
was  entirely  sound  on  the  fifteenth  amendment,  and 
whenever  this  amendment  to  the  constitution  for  the 
election  of  senators  by  the  people  is  adopted,  and  also 
an  amendment  for  the  election  of  president  and  vice- 
president  by  the  people,  and  it  is  necessary  to  enact  a 
federal  election  law  in  order  that  the  fifteenth  amend- 
ment may  be  obeyed,  I  am  glad  to  believe  that,  in  view 
of  the  message  of  the  senator  which  I  have  in  my  hand, 
we  shall  have  his  vote  therefor.  I  ask  the  secretary  to 
read  it  as  a  part  of  my  speech  :" 

The  secretary  read  as  follows  : 

"EXECUTIVE  DEP'T. 
"SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.,  March  5,  1869. 
"To  the  honorable  speaker  of  the  senate — I  have  the  honor 
to  communicate  to  both  branches  of  the  general  assembly 
a  copy  of  the  resolutions  of  congress  proposing  to  the 
legislatures  of  the  several  states  a  fifteenth  article  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

"I  deem  it  unnecessary,  while  performing  this  act  of 


492  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

official  duty  to  do  more  than  express  my  own  earnest  hope 
that  the  general  assembly  will  at  once  give  voice  to  the 
ardent  wishes  of  the  people  in  expressing  the  concurrence 
of  the  State  of  Illinois  in  this  crowning  act  of  statesman- 
ship. 

"Illinois  owes  much  of  its  prosperity  and  greatness  to 
the  ordinance  of  1787,  which  in  addition  to  the  exclusion 
of  slavery  from  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio,  took 
its  place  in  history  by  the  side  of  the  declaration  of  in- 
dependence, as  the  protest  of  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  con- 
temporary patriots  against  human  slavery ;  and  the 
state  which  led  in  the  political  contest  of  1860,  which 
gave  to  freedom  its  first  victory  and  which  was  the  home 
and  now  shelters  in  her  bosom  all  that  was  mortal  of  the 
great  martyr,  will  not  hesitate  a  moment  to  assent  to 
this  measure  of  justice,  which  closes  the  greatest  and 
noblest  struggle  the  history  of  the  world  has  known,  and 
with  'liberty  and  union,  one  and  inseparable  now  and 
forever.'  JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

"Mr.  Chandler.  Noble  sentiments,  Mr.  President,  ut- 
tered by  a  Republican  governor,  with  the  excellent  mili- 
tary record  of  the  senator  from  Illinois.  I  do  not  wonder 
that  the  Democratic  state  committee — 

"Mr.  Palmer.     Mr.  President — 

"The  presiding  officer  (Mr.  Harris  in  the  chair) .  Does 
the  senator  from  New  Hampshire  yield  to  the  senator 
from  Illinois? 

"Mr.  Chandler.  At  the  end  of  this  sentence  :  I  do  not 
wonder  that  the  Democratic  state  committee  selected  the 
senator  with  whom  to  originate  the  popular  movement 
which  was  to  convert  the  State  of  Illinois  from  a  Re- 
publican into  a  Democratic  state. 

"Mr.  Palmer.  I  wish  to  state  to  the  senator  that  it  was 
not  as  a  Republican  governor,  but  as  a  man  entertaining 
my  own  views.  I  had  my  own  views.  I  was  not  the 
slave  of  any  party.  I  repudiate  all  claim  to  any  opinion 
I  have  expressed  in  the  course  of  my  lifetime  as  being 


ELECTION  OF  SENATORS  BY  THE  PEOPLE.  493 

the  doctrines  of  any  political  party.  I  have  thought  for 
myself  and  have  spoken  my  own  words  on  all  occasions 
during  my  lifetime. 

"...  That  which  I  characterized  as  a  trick  has 
been  so  regarded  in  Illinois  and  laughed  at  and  con- 
demned in  Illinois,  and  I  think  now  there  is  a  dispute  as 
to  who  deserves  the  credit  of  the  trick  in  the  neighbor- 
hood where  my  colleague  and  I  live. 

"The  fact  is  that  the  twenty-fourth  district,  I  believe 
it  is,  of  Illinois  is  very  largely  Democratic.  A  Demo- 
cratic representative  named  Shaw  died,  and  a  special 
election  was  ordered.  Judge  Leiper,  of  Cass  county, 
was  nominated  by  the  Democrats  to  supply  the  vacancy. 
The  Republican  managers  made  an  agreement  by  which  a 
man  named  Weaver,  who  was  an  insurance  agent,  and 
who  traveled  over  the  district  as  if  he  was  engaged  in 
his  ordinary  business,  was  to  run  as  a  candidate.  His 
name  was  not  mentioned  otherwise  than  confidentially, 
but  his  supporters  turned  out  in  the  afternoon  of  the  day 
as  I  recollect  the  story,  and  the  ballots  were  deposited 
and  he  was  elected .  I  think  Leiper  got  two  hundred  votes , 
perhaps,  in  a  district  of  several  thousand  ;  and  "Weaver 
got  three  or  four  hundred.  He  traveled  ostensibly  en- 
gaged in  his  business  as  an  insurance  agent. 

"I  characterized  that  as  an  ingenious  trick,  and  I 
think  I  was  justified  in  doing  so.  That  vote  determined 
the  majority  that  elected  one  of  my  most  distinguished 
predecessors. 

"Mr.  Chandler.  Did  the  senator  mean  General  Logan 
when  he  said  that? 

"Mr.  Palmer.  I  did  not  mention  any  name,  but  I 
know  General  Logan  was  the  senator  elected. 

"Mr.  Chandler.  You  knew  it  was  General  Logan's 
case? 

"Mr.  Palmer.  I  did,  but  I  never  imagined  there  was 
any  malice  about  it ;  nor  do  I  suppose  now,  as  it  was  a 
public  matter,  that  it  was  a  thing  about  which  I  ought 
to  keep  silent.  It  was  illustrative  of  the  mischief  of 


494  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

electing  United  States  senators  by  the  votes  of  mem- 
bers of  the  legislature.  It  was  a  trick,  understood  to  be 
a  trick,  laughed  at  by  the  Republicans  as  a  trick,  and  de- 
nounced by  the  Democrats  as  a  trick. 

"Mr.  Chandler.     It  was  a  popular  election. 

"Mr.  Palmer.  A  popular  election,  but  a  trick,  never- 
theless. 

"Mr.  Chandler.  It  was  not  a  trick  in  the  legis- 
lature. 

"Mr.  Gray.  Allow  me  to  ask  the  senator  from 
Illinois,  if  the  insurance  agent,  to  whom  he  has  re- 
ferred as  having  been  elected  as  a  Republican  repre- 
sentative, was  regularly  nominated  by  the  Republican 
party? 

"Mr.  Palmer.  By  no  means.  It  was  not  suspected 
by  the  Democrats  until  after  it  was  discovered,  late  in 
the  afternoon  of  election  day,  that  the  Republicans  were 
voting  at  all.  (Laughter.)  Their  insurance  agent  had 
gone  around  the  district  making  his  arrangements,  and 
the  Republicans  turned  out  to  vote  in  the  evening.  It 
was  a  revelation  to  the  Democrats.  They  had  been 
beaten  without  knowing  that  they  were  opposed.  That 
is  the  fact.  If  my  friend  can  find,  in  my  reference  to 
that,  any  evidence  of  malice  toward  General  Logan, 
or  any  evidence  to  depreciate  his  memory,  the  sugges- 
tion is  supplied  by  his  own  mind,  and  not  by  mine,  nor 
by  those  who  heard  me. 

"Mr.  President — The  senator  from  New  Hampshire 
has  very  kindly  referred  to  some  facts  in  my  own  po- 
litical history.  I  suppose  there  is  no  man  in  the  State 
of  Illinois  whose  public  life  has  been  more  open  than 
mine,  and  I  suppose  there  is  no  man  in  Illinois  who 
has  been  supposed  to  act  more  according  to  his  own 
will — I  was  about  to  say  his  own  convictions — who  has 
acted  according  to  his  own  will  more  conspicuously 
than  I  have.  The  senator  is  mistaken  in  one  fact : 
General  Logan  was  never  an  anti-slavery  Democrat ;  I 
was.  General  Logan  went  into  the  army  in  1861,  some 


ELECTION  OF  SENATORS  BY  THE  PEOPLE.  495 

time  after  I  did.  General  Logan  had  his  own  motives 
for  doing  so.  I  am  not  called  upon  to  characterize, 
and  I  certainly  do  not  characterize  them  in  an  unfriendly 
way.  He  acted  according  to  the  convictions  of  his  own 
conscience  and  his  own  sense  of  duty,  but  he  was  never 
an  anti-slavery  Democrat ;  I  was  from  the  beginning. 
I  think  I  inherited  that  feeling.  My  father  voted  for 
Thomas  Jefferson  in  1804,  I  think  it  was,  and  I  had 
been  trained  in  that  faith,  hostile  to  slavery.  I  do  not 
think  I  ever  in  my  life,  while  slavery  was  an  existing 
institution,  suppressed  an  expression  of  my  opposition 
to  slavery. 

"When  the  war  broke  out,  I  entered  the  army  early — 
went  into  the  army  on  May  15,  1861,  as  the  colonel 
of  a  regiment,  elected  by  the  votes  of  my  neighbors 
and  those  who  knew  me.  I  served  in  the  army  as 
brigadier-general  and  major-general  of  volunteers.  I 
did  so  from  a  sense  of  duty.  After  the  war  was  over,  I 
was  elected  governor  of  Illinois,  upon  the  basis  and 
upon  the  theory  of  standing  by  the  public  faith,  paying 
the  debt  incurred  by  the  war  in  gold.  I  was  in  favor  of 
such  legislation  and  amendment  of  the  constitution  as 
would  secure  the  results  of  the  war.  I  was  open  and 
outspoken,  and  I  have  taken  nothing  back  yet. 

"In  1872,  after  the  Republican  party  had  adopted 
the  heresies  of  the  old  Whig  party,  I  refused  to  go  with 
it.  In  1860,  when  the  Republican  party  was  organized, 
it  was  not  a  protective-tariff  party,  and  Mr.  Elaine  says, 
in  his  most  admirable  book,  that  the  protectionists  came 
into  the  war  for  the  sake  of  protection — in  substance, 
without  any  feeling,  without  any  sympathy  with  the 
anti-slavery  party ;  and,  when  the  Republican  party 
adopted  all  the  fallacies  of  the  Whig  party,  I  separated 
myself  from  it,  and  voted  for  Mr.  Greeley,  upon  the 
principle — a  very  ludicrous  principle  now — that  the  sub- 
ject of  tariff  should  be  referred  to  the  people  of  the  re- 
spective congressional  districts. 


496  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

Opposed  the  Pure  Food  bill — Favored  pensions  for  judges  of  the  supreme 
court — Opposed  the  Indian  bill — Homestead  speech. 

I  opposed  the  "Pure  Food"  bill  introduced  by  Mr. 
Paddock,  of  Nebraska,  but  avowed  my  readiness  to  vote 
for  any  bill  which  should  be  for  the  purpose  of  regulat- 
ing the  commerce  in  food  products  and  drugs  between 
the  several  states  and  territories  of  the  United  States. 

I  said,  and  I  repeat,  that  "to  the  extent  this  bill  goes 
beyond  its  declared  object,  it  is  objectionable.  In  some 
of  the  states  it  has  been  found  necessary — in  the  State 
of  Illinois — I  think  probably  in  the  improved  constitu- 
tions of  all  the  states,  it  is  required,  that  the  object  of  the 
bill  must  be  set  out  in  its  title,  and  in  some  of  the  states 
it  has  been  held  that  so  much  of  the  bill  as  is  not  em- 
braced in  its  title  is  void.  .  .  .  Now,  I  think,  if  I  tell 
the  senator  from  Nebraska  that  I  am  for  all  of  his  bill 
which  I  believe  regulates  commerce  between  the  states 
in  respect  to  food  and  drugs  and  am  for  all  that  is 
auxiliary  to  that  purpose,  I  think  I  act  in  good  faith. 
But  if  the  senator  thinks  that  I  am  bound  to  accept  this 
bill  with  all  that  is  irrelevant  to  its  object,  that  I  ought 
to  submit  to  unconstitutional  enactments  to  prove  the 
sincerity  of  my  declaration  that  I  favor  his  bill,  I  can 
only  say  that  I  must  submit  to  whatever  censure  he 
chooses  to  impose  upon  me." 

...»  I  favored  an  appropriation  from  the  treasury  for 
the  meeting  of  the  "Grand  Army  of  the  Republic, "  in 
Washington,  and  said  :  "Let  them  come,  old  men  that 
they  are ;  they  will  be  here  but  a  little  time  longer. 
Time  is  dealing  with  them,  their  heads  are  gray,  their 
limbs  are  palsied,  and  they  will  desire  to  come  for  the 
last  time  to  visit  the  capitol  of  their  country  which  has 


OPPOSE  CERTAIN  BILLS— HOMESTEAD  SPEECH.       497 

grown  so  much  since  the  great  hours  of  sorrow  that 
spread  over  the  whole  land." 

.  .  .  I  voted  for  pensions  for  the  judges  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States  for  this  reason,  as  I 
have  stated  it :  "I  have  witnessed  the  struggle  between 
poverty  and  a  desire  to  discharge  duty,  until  I  have  the 
utmost  sympathy  for  the  men  who  engage  in  it.  I  have 
known  judges  of  eminence  to  become  involved  in  specu- 
lations ;  a  great  lawyer  is  not  likely  to  have  much  money 
saved.  I  believe  there  are  exceptions,  but  as  a  rule 
they  are  not  remarkable  for  their  money  keeping  ca- 
pacity, and  I  have  known  them  to  become  involved 
in  speculations  that  would  not  have  been  very  at- 
tractive to  men  of  experience.  I  have  witnessed  the 
struggle,  and  I  should  be  glad  to  see  the  principle 
adopted  of  paying  a  judge  such  salary  in  presenti  and  in 
future,  as  would  enable  him  to  feel  that  he  had  his  life 
work  upon  him,  and  that  he  might  feel  relieved  from 
those  anxieties  that  attend  men  as  they  grow  old,  with 
the  consciousness  that  their  physical  and  mental  facul- 
ties too  are  not  as  they  were  at  an  early  period  of  their 
lives.  ...  I  desire  that  the  judge  shall  feel  that 
whatever  the  duties  of  the  place  are,  he  shall  have  none 
of  the  temptations  to  engage  in  business  or  distract  his 
thoughts.  .  .  ." 

March  18,  1892,  I  opposed  the  bill  reported  by  the 
committee  on  Indian  affairs,  placing  the  Indians  under 
the  control  of  the  war  department,  and  said  : 

"It  is  exceedingly  strange  to  me  that  during  the 
centuries  that  have  passed  since  the  Indians  were  a  war- 
like people,  they  should  have  been  entrusted  to  the  care 
of  civilians,  and  now  that  they  have  become  broken,  a 
mere  fragment  of  their  tribal  relations  existing,  it  should 
be  proposed  to  turn  them  over  to  the  army.  One  would 
suppose  that  we  had  reached  a  point  where  they  would 
be  the  most  proper  subjects  for  a  civil  control.  I  have 
great  respect  for  the  officers  of  the  army,  but  I  have 
32 


498  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

never  supposed  that  their  education  fitted  them  for  the 
particular  features  of  care  that  the  Indians  require  as 
they  have  been  particularly  described  by  the  senator 
from  Oregon  (Mr.  Dolph),  and  others  who  have  at- 
tempted to  describe  them.  What  is  the  exact  condition 
of  the  Indians  to-day,  as  we  understand  it?  I  speak  in 
general  terms.  They  have  been  driven  from  nearly  all 
the  fertile  lands  upon  the  continent.  They  were  first 
driven  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  mountains  in  this  direc- 
tion, and  the  people  of  Oregon  and  other  Pacific  states 
have  driven  them  east  towards  the  mountains  ;  they  are 
feeble,  while  they  have  gained  something  in  civilization, 
they  have  lost  very  much  by  civilization.  And  at  no 
time  in  the  history  of  the  race,  have  they  so  much  re- 
quired that  peculiar  care  which  can  be  given  by  intelli- 
gent men  and  women  as  they  do  now.  ...  I  have 
no  patience  with  any  form  of  argument  which  places 
this  subject  upon  the  pure  and  simple  ground  of 
economy.  It  is  easy  for  gentlemen  to  say  that  the 
Indian  ought  to  work,  that  they  should  be  made  to  work. 
All  that  is  easy  generalization,  a  very  simple  thing,  but 
here  is  this  race  in  its  present  condition.  ...  I 
am  not  disposed  to  enter  into  any  nice  discussion  as  to 
what  they  ought  to  do,  or  how  much  they  may  be  made 
to  do.  I  am  insisting  upon  treating  them  as  they  are 
to-day,  and  have  been  made  by  our  policy.  Treat  them 
as  they  are,  feed  them.  .  .  .  After  feeding  them,  or 
in  connection  with  feeding  them,  care  for  them. 

.  .  .  "Mr.  President,  I  know  of  but  few  things 
more  pitiable,  whether  applied  to  young  children  or  ap- 
plied to  'children  of  a  larger  growth,'  like  the  Indians,; 
than  subjecting  them  to  the  perpetual  drill  of  military, 
rule.  The  senator  speaks  of  the  advantages  of  evening 
schools,  post  schools,  the  canteen  and  other  methods 
by  which  the  simple,  everlasting  treadmill  of  discipline 
may  be  enforced.  It  is  the  most  cruel  system  of  gov- 
ernment. It  is  like  shutting  children  up  in  some  of  our 
charitable  institutions  and  compelling  them  to  go  through 


OPPOSE  CERTAIN  BILLS— HOMESTEAD  SPEECH.       499 

the  drill  every  day.  ...  I  protest,  therefore,  that 
whatever  may  have  been  the  necessity  heretofore  in 
placing  the  Indians  under  the  control  of  the  army,  the 
day  for  it  has  passed.  They  should  be  under  the  control 
of  intelligent,  humane  men  and  women,  that  the  influ- 
ence of  both  may  be  brought  to  bear  to  humanize,  civ- 
ilize and  elevate  them.  .  .  .  The  buffalo  has  gone, 
the  Indian  will  go.  ...  I  suppose  men  who  have 
been  with  civilized  armies  have  seen  brave  men,  civilized 
men,  maddened  by  hunger.  For  I  have  never  seen  the 
man  with  a  musket,  or  the  man  who  had  power,  die  with 
hunger,  when  food  was  within  his  reach.  .  .  .  I  spoke 
and  voted  for  a  measure  authorizing  the  people  of  Arizona 
to  fund  their  bond  issue  in  gold.  ...  I  opposed  the 
bill  in  reference  to  the  Chinese  immigrants,  by  which  it 
was  proposed  to  exclude  Chinese  from  testifying ;  and 
voted  for  the  prosecution  of  the  claims  of  the  government 
against  the  Pacific  Railroad.  ...  I  said  in  a  debate 
on  May  4, 1892  :  "The  United  States,  in  the  first  instance, 
established  homes  where  men  were  isolated.  It  also  es- 
tablished 'Soldiers 'Orphans' Homes,'  where  the  children 
were  isolated.  It  has  always  been  thought  that  an  ex- 
periment that  would  authorize  any  of  the  states  to  col- 
lect and  employ  and  educate  the  families  of  certain 
classes  of  soldiers  and  sailors  would  be  a  wise  experi- 
ment, and  would  probably  lead  to  the  solution  of  the 
difficulty  which  we  have  all  experienced.  We  have  a 
large  'Soldiers'  Orphans'  Home'  in  Illinois.  I  have  al- 
ways felt  the  embarrassment  of  separating  these  children 
from  their  surviving  parents  and  from  their  home  asso- 
ciations, and  caring  for  them  in  the  sort  of  semi-military 
way  that  is  necessary  in  the  homes.  For  several  years 
I  had  the  honor  of  being  one  of  the  managers  of  the 
national  homes.  At  Dayton,  where  there  are  many  thou- 
sands of  soldiers,  I  found  a  difficulty  almost  incurable  in 
the  separation  of  soldiers  from  their  families  and  from 
home  associations.  When  I  saw  this  proposition,  to 
lend  to  the  State  of  Kansas,  that  the  state  may  with  its 


500  THE  STOKY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

own  resources  make  the  experiment  of  bringing  soldiers, 
decrepit  old  men  and  their  families  to  a  home,  where  home- 
life  can  be  enjoyed  by  these  old  men,  I  was  glad.  I  know  of 
but  very  few  things  more  pitiful  than  the  necessity  that 
separates  an  old  man  from  his  family,  and  in  order  to  en- 
joy the  benevolence  of  the  government,  to  abandon  the 
care  of  those  whose  care  would  be  so  precious  to  him. 
In  this  proposition,  an  opportunity  is  given  to  the  State 
of  Kansas  to  make  the  experiment  of  caring  for  these 
old  men  and  their  old  wives,  and  in  bringing  them  to- 
gether, and  promote  the  happiness  of  all.  My  remarks 
had  reference  to  Fort  Hayes  reservation,  which  in- 
cluded two  and  a  half  sections  of  land." 

On  the  subject  of  giving  an  American  registry  to 
British  ships,  I  said:  "I  have  listened  with  admiration 
to  the  brilliant  picture  drawn  by  the  senator  from  Maine 
(Mr.  Frye) ,  and  if  my  imagination  was  not  somewhat 
chilled  by  age,  probably,  or  by  remoteness  from  the 
ocean,  I  should  sympathize  with  him,  but  it  promises 
too  much  good  to  the  country.  There  is  too  much 
offered  by  these  patriotic  citizens  to  justify  at  least  not 
speedy  and  sudden  action  upon  this  bill.  If  the  state- 
ments made  are  true,  might  not  some  general  law  be 
prepared  which  would  allow  other  patriotic  men  to  in- 
dulge their  passion  for  the  flag?  Why  limit  it  to  these 
two  ships?  Are  there  not  others  afloat  which  would  de- 
sire also  to  bear  the  flag?  Why  should  the  privilege  be 
conferred  only  upon  the  owners  of  these  two  ships  ?  .  . 
.  I  favored  an  appropriation  for  the  World's  Fair  at 
Chicago.  ...  I  opposed  a  bill  which  had  for  its 
object  the  enforcement  of  treaty  rights,  upon  the  ground 
that  it  referred  to  the  statutes  of  the  states,  and  said : 
"The  United  States  is  a  unit  in  its  relation  to  foreign 
countries,  and  the  statutes  of  states  are  local,  and  are  re- 
ferred to  here  merely  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
what  law  is  to  be  employed.  It  is  equivalent  to  saying 
that  there  shall  be  the  United  States  as  one  whole 
body  of  the  country,  and  this  is  to  establish  forty-four 


OPPOSE  CERTAIN  BILLS— HOMESTEAD  SPEECH.        501 

different  rules  in  the  same  territory.  I  imagine  the 
United  States  has  no  power  to  pass  a  law  that  shall  op- 
erate differently  in  forty-four  different  districts  of  the 
same  country.  ...  I  introduced  a  bill  to  increase 
the  pension  of  Andrew  McKee.  It  proposes  to  place  on 
the  pension  roll  the  name  of  Andrew  Franklin,  alias 
Andrew  McKee,  late  a  private  in  Captain  M.  Arm- 
strong's company  of  Ohio  militia,  from  August  22,  1812, 
to  February  22,  1813,  and  from  July  28th  to  August  18, 
1813,  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  to  pay  him  a  pension  of 
fifty  dollars  per  month,  in  lieu  of  the  pension  he  is  now 
receiving." 

Mr.  Cockrell  asked  for  the  reading  of  the  report.  I 
said,  in  the  debate  on  the  report :  "The  case  is  a  most 
remarkable  one.  At  first,  it  impressed  me  to  some  ex- 
tent as  it  has  the  senator  from  Missouri,  but,  upon  in- 
quiry, I  find  that  this  man  is,  from  all  the  evidence,  at 
least  a  hundred  years  old.  The  fact  that  he  performed 
services  in  the  war  of  1812  is  about  as  conclusively 
shown  as  any  matter  of  that  kind  can  be.  He  is  poor 
and  a  man  of  unblemished  character.  His  wife  is  also 
of  a  very  great  age,  and  they  have  no  property.  I 
thought  the  case  was  so  remarkable  that  it  was  proper 
the  amount  should  be  increased  to  the  amount  named  in 
the  bill. 

"It  cannot  be  a  precedent,  because  precedents  of  a  man 
and  his  wife  living  to  that  great  age  together  can  be 
rarely  found,  and  that  this  old  soldier  of  the  war  of  1812 
should  have  a  moderate  pension  for  the  very  few  years 
that  remain  to  him  and  his  wife  makes  it,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  something  more  than  an  act  of  charity.  It  rises 
to  the  very  domain  of  patriotic  justice."  (The  bill  was 
passed,  and  the  old  man  got  his  pension.) 
.  .  .  I  took  part  in  the  Homestead  debate,  and  de- 
livered the  following  speech.  It  was  on  a  proposition  to 
inquire  into  that  affair  : 


502  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"UNITED  STATES  SENATE,  July  7,  1892. 

"Mr.  Palmer.  Mr.  President,  I  did  not  understand 
the  proposition  of  the  senator  from  Maine  until  this  mo- 
ment. I  now  understand  that  the  purpose  of  the  refer- 
ence is  to  supply  means  for  the  investigation  of  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  affair  at  Homestead.  I  beg  to  say 
that  the  suggestion,  therefore,  is  in  the  line  of  the  pur- 
pose I  have  in  view.  But,  before  the  subject  passes 
from  the  attention  of  the  senate,  I  beg  to  make  a  few  ob- 
servations. 

"I  am  quite  satisfied  that  merely  to  deplore  this  con- 
dition of  things  falls  very  short  of  what  must  be  the 
duty  of  some  department  or  departments  of  either  the 
federal  or  state  governments.  We  are  confronted  now 
with  this  labor  problem  in  its  most  impressive  form. 

"This  very  large  establishment  of  the  Carnegie  Com- 
pany, which,  I  understand,  has  some  $25,000,000  cap- 
ital behind  it,  or  invested  in  its  enterprise,  employs 
some  five  thousand  men,  I  believe,  and  upon  these  five 
thousand  men  there  are  dependent  many  thousand 
women  and  children  who  depend  upon  the  proceeds  of 
the  labor  of  those  men  for  support.  I  understand  that 
the  Carnegie  Company  have  determined  that  there  shall 
be  changes  in  their  methods ;  that  there  shall  be  a  dif- 
ferent rate  of  compensation  paid  hereafter  for  certain 
kinds  of  labor,  and  that  the  contracts  shall  end  at  an- 
other time  of  the  year,  and  that  they  make  those  con- 
ditions peremptory  and  absolute — the  reductions  of  wages 
and  the  difference  in  the  termination  of  the  period  of 
the  contracts.  It  is  also  true  that  they  have,  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  what  they  claim  to  be  their  clear  right,  at- 
tempted to  bring  a  large  military  force  to  their  estab- 
lishment— a  military  force  which  has  a  known  and  recog- 
nized existence  in  this  country.  The  army  raised  and 
commanded  by  the  Piukertons  is  as  distinctly  known  in 
this  country  as  is  the  regular  army  of  the  United  States. 
It  is  not  a  new  thing ;  I  am  astonished  to  find  that  it 
excites  surprise  now.  For  years  that  force  has  existed  ; 


OPPOSE  CERTAIN  BILLS—HOMESTEAD  SPEECH.        503 

its  number  is  not  always  the  same.  The  commander-in- 
chief  of  this  army,  like  the  barons  of  the  middle  ages, 
has  a  force  to  be  increased  at  pleasure  for  the  service  of 
those  who  will  pay  him  or  them,  and  they  have  been 
employed  in  many  places  in  many  states  of  the  Union. 
They  have  been  employed  in  New  York,  and  have  shed 
the  blood  of  citizens  of  that  state.  They  have  been  em- 
ployed in  Illinois,  and  have  shed  the  blood  of  citizens  of 
Illinois.  At  other  points  in  the  United  States,  they 
have  been  employed.  This  company  claim  not  only  the 
right  to  regulate  their  own  business  in  their  own  way, 
but  they  claim  the  right  to  fortify  their  position  and  the 
right  to  introduce  this  armed  force  within  their  fortified 
lines.  They  claim  a  right  to  a  free  passage  from  their 
armed  boats  on  the  Monongahela  river  into  their  fortifi- 
cations ;  and,  hence,  this  struggle,  this  battle,  because 
battles  are  not  necessarily  conflicts  between  armed  men 
organized  by  proper  authority,  and  there  was  a  battle 
between  the  men  who  supposed  they  had  a  right  and 
this  armed  force  of  mercenaries  raised  and  organized  by 
the  owners  of  this  establishment. 

"Mr.  President,  in  making  this  statement,  I  confess 
I  have  given  no  information  to  the  senate.  We  know 
what  the  facts  are.  It  is  claimed  on  one  hand  that  the 
citizens  fired  on  the  mercenaries,  and  it  is  claimed  on 
the  other  hand  that  the  mercenaries  fired  first  upon  the 
citizens.  It  is  not  very  material,  to  my  mind,  who  fired 
the  first  shot. 

"These  are  men  who  were  taken  there  for  the  purpose 
of  battle,  a  contingent  purpose,  I  confess,  but  for  the 
purpose  of  shedding  the  blood  of  these  people  if  they 
stood  in  their  pathway. 

"But  even  when  that  statement  is  made  I  have  done 
but  little  towards  reaching  a  solution  of  this  question. 
What  I  desire  from  any  committee  of  the  senate  will  be 
not  to  tell  us  the  story  of  this  outrage,  nor  is  it  material 
whether  the  blame  for  the  present  condition  is  cast  upon 
the  Carnegie  Company  or  not.  It  is  simply  because 


504  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

they  are  representatives  of  new  conditions  of  society. 
It  might  have  happened  at  any  one  of  a  hundred  places 
in  the  United  States  where  large  numbers  of  men  are 
employed  in  the  service  of  these  enormous  manufact- 
uring establishments.  It  may  happen  anywhere.  It 
may  occur  in  Illinois,  or  in  New  York,  or  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, or  in  Ohio.  Anywhere  it  may  happen,  because 
in  the  nature  of  things  these  interests  oppose  each  other 
up  to  the  extent  that  I  shall  describe. 

"I  speak  of  the  Carnegie  Company  merely  because  it 
happens  for  the  time  being  to  be  an  actor  in  these 
things.  It  is  claimed  for  them,  and  by  them,  that  they 
have  an  absolute  right  to  the  management  of  their  own 
property ;  that  they  are  not  bound  to  listen  to  the  sug- 
gestions or  the  wishes  of  any  third  person ;  that  the 
men  who  have  toiled  with  them  for  years  have  no  voice 
whatever,  have  no  interest  in  the  establishment,  have 
no  right,  and  only  speak  by  the  permission  of  those  who 
employ  them.  That  is  the  broad  statement  of  property 
rights  in  the  Carnegie  Company. 

"The  men,  who  resist,  claim  that  they  have  some 
rights,  because  if  it  is  true  as  a  matter  of  law,  and  if  it 
is  to  be  regarded  as  true  in  a  political  sense,  that  these 
4,500  men  were  simply  trespassers  there,  then  of  course 
it  must  be  very  difficult  to  condemn  the  Carnegie  Com- 
pany, except  as  to  the  manner  in  which  they  assert  their 
rights.  It  may  be  said  that  it  was  menacing  and  in- 
sulting that  they  should  organize  this  force  in  contempt 
of  public  authority,  because  for  a  private  citizen  to  at- 
tempt to  enforce  his  own  rights,  however  clear  they 
may  be,  in  disregard  of  the  agents  of  the  law,  is  a  con- 
tempt of  the  law ;  and  this  attempt  to  maintain  their 
rights  by  the  aid  of  an  organized  force  was  a  contempt 
of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  The  manner  was  men- 
acing and  insulting.  To  advance  upon  a  peaceful,  quiet 
city  in  the  manner  I  have  described  was  an  insult  to  the 
people  who  were  there. 

"Mr.  President,  it  is  difficult  for  American  citizens, 


OPPOSE  CERTAIN  BILLS— HOMESTEAD  SPEECH.       505 

whether  they  are  in  the  right  or  in  the  wrong,  to  submit 
to  be  driven  by  an  armed  force.  I  confess  that  every 
impulse  of  my  mind  tempts  me  to  feel  that  I  should 
dislike  being  driven,  even  though  I  might  be  in  the 
wrong,  by  a  person  who  might  happen  to  be  in  the 
right. 

"I  will  not  discuss  that  question.  Something  more, 
however,  must  be  claimed  for  these  men.  I  maintain — 
and  I  ask  the  attention  of  the  committee  on  education 
and  labor,  if  that  committee  shall  be  instructed  to  in- 
quire into  this  matter — that  these  citizens  were  right. 
I  maintain,  according  to  the  law  of  the  land — not  as  the 
law  is  generally  understood,  but  according  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  law  which  must  hereafter  be  applied  to  the 
solution  of  these  troubles — that  those  men  had  a  right 
to  be  there.  That  makes  it  necessary  for  me  to  assert 
that  these  men  had  a  right  to  employment  there,  they 
had  earned  the  right  to  live  there,  and  these  large  manu- 
facturing establishments — and  there  is  no  other  road  out 
of  this  question — must  hereafter  be  understood  to  be 
public  establishments  in  the  modified  sense  which  I  will 
explain  in  a  moment,  in  which  the  public  is  deeply  in- 
terested, and  the  owners  of  these  properties  must  here- 
after be  regarded  as  holding  their  property  subject  to 
the  correlative  rights  of  those  without  whose  services 
the  property  would  be  utterly  valueless.  That  con- 
cession which  I  make  only  concedes  to  them  a  right  to 
a  reasonable  profit  on  the  capital  invested  in  their  enter- 
prises. I  maintain,  furthermore,  that  these  laborers, 
having  been  in  that  service,  having  been  engaged  there, 
having  spent  their  lives  in  this  peculiar  line  of  service, 
have  a  right  to  insist  upon  the  permanency  of  their  em- 
ployment, and  they  have  a  right,  too,  to  insist  upon 
a  reasonable  compensation  for  their  services. 

"We  talk  about  the  civil  service  law  as  applicable  to 
government  employment.  I  assert  that  there  is  a  law 
wider  and  broader  than  that  which  gives  to  those  men 
who  have  been  bred  in  these  special  pursuits,  as,  for 


506  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

example,  in  the  service  of  railroads,  or  of  those  vast 
manufacturing  establishments,  a  right  to  demand  em- 
ployment, a  right  which  can  only  be  defeated  by  miscon- 
duct on  their  part. 

"I  maintain,  therefore,  that  at  the  time  of  the  assault 
upon  these  people  at  Homestead,  they  were  where  they 
had  a  right  to  be ;  they  were  upon  ground  they  had  a 
right  to  defend.  Do  you  ask  me  if  these  men  may  by 
force  take  possession  of  the  property  of  another?  No. 
They  were  conducting  themselves  in  the  line  of  their 
rights  as  I  understand  them.  Business  was  suspended 
and  these  men  were  simply  awaiting  the  settlement  of 
the  disputed  questions  between  themselves  and  their  em- 
ployers. Mark  me.  I  maintain  the  right  of  owners  of 
property  to  operate  it  at  their  will ;  I  maintain  the  right 
of  operatives  to  assist  in  its  operation ;  I  maintain  the 
right  of  both  parties  to  reasonable  compensation  for  their 
services ;  I  maintain  the  right  of  those  laborers  to  con- 
tinuous employment,  dependent  not  alone  upon  the  will 
of  their  employers,  but  dependent  upon  the  good  conduct 
of  the  employes. 

"Mr.  President — this  is  the  only  road  out  of  the  diffi- 
culty. You  may  call  out  the  militia  of  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  you  may  exterminate  all  the  inhabit- 
ants of  that  beautiful  and  thrifty  village,  and  what  is 
done  ?  Human  life  has  again  been  sacrificed  in  one  of  those 
struggles  for  human  rights.  Do  you  establish  the  right 
of  these  large  establishments  to  control  their  business? 
On  the  contrary,  the  laboring  men  of  the  country,  so 
conscious  of  this  right  which  I  assert,  the  right  to  con- 
tinue in  employment  during  good  behavior,  will  continue 
to  resist,  and  this  social  war  will  be  upon  you  and  it  be- 
comes the  duty  of  Christian  statesmen,  Republican 
statesmen,  to  find  some  road  out  of  this  difficulty. 
Within  my  lifetime  I  have  seen  marvelous  changes. 
There  was  a  time  when  individualism  was  the  uni- 
versal rule  and  men  lived  alone  because  they  could 
support  themselves  ;  but  matters  have  changed.  To-day 


OPPOSE  CERTAIN  BILLS— HOMESTEAD  SPEECH.       507 

the  world  is  practically  divided  between  the  employers 
and  the  employes.  I  do  not  take  into  account  those 
neglected  agricultural  districts,  those  farm  laborers  for 
whom  nobody  seems  to  care,  for  in  all  the  discussions  of 
tariff  policy  we  have  had,  nobody  ever  speaks  of  the  toiler 
upon  the  farm.  We  speak  of  organized  labor,  and  skilled 
labor,  but  when  we  come  to  talk  about  the  white  or  the 
black  men  who  toil  upon  the  farm  from  the  rising  of  the 
sun  until  the  going  down  thereof,  and  speak  of  the  influ- 
ence of  legislation  upon  these  men,  we  do  not  regard 
them.  If  we  pray  for  them,  we  pray  for  them  very 
much  the  same  as  Brougham  said  the  Queen  was  prayed 
for,  for  the  desolate  and  the  oppressed  ;  if  we  legislate, 
they  are  not  regarded.  But  this  organized  labor  is  power 
in  the  state.  You  must  regard  it ;  you  must  adjust 
their  interests. 

"How  can  you  adjust  it?  You  cannot  do  it  by  assert- 
ing, which  I  admit  to  be  true,  that  every  man  has  a 
right  to  the  control  of  his  own  property  in  his  own  way  ; 
or,  if  a  man  does  not  like  to  go  to  work  for  the  Carne- 
gies,  he  may  go  to  work  for  somebody  else.  You  cannot 
settle  it  in  that  way.  You  cannot  settle  it  by  saying 
that  Mr.  Carnegie  has  a  right  to  employ  whomsoever  he 
pleases.  Those  are  old  truisms  which  have  no  applica- 
tion in  this  changed  condition,  when  organized  capital  fur- 
nishes us  all  that  we  have  ;  it  furnishes  us  our  food ;  it  fur- 
nishes all  our  clothing  ;  it  furnishes  our  physicians  ;  I  be- 
lieve now  it  is  furnishing  our  lawyers  ;  and  it  is  said  that 
it  has  furnished  us  our  legislators  sometimes,  although 
that  is  a  slander  which  I  am  not  disposed  to  indorse. 

"That  being  the  case,  you  have  got  to  find  some  way 
out.  You  cannot  admit  the  absolute  right  of  capital ; 
you  cannot  admit  the  absolute  right  of  labor ;  you  have 
got  to  adjust  their  rights  upon  some  basis.  What  is  it? 

"That  a  manufacturing  establishment  is  a  public  in- 
stitution, as  the  railroads  are  held  to  be  public,  because 
they  work  for  the  public ;  public,  because  they  employ 
the  public ;  public,  because  men  employed  in  their  ser- 


508  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

vice  become  unfit  for  other  services,  and  public,  because 
there  are  thousands  dependent  upon  them  for  food  and 
nurture. 

"Thus  we  have  recognized  the  right  of  the  capitalist 
to  control  his  property,  and  his  right  to  a  reasonable  re- 
ward for  his  investment,  and  we  claim  for  the  laborer 
the  right  to  permanent  employment  during  good  be- 
havior, though  he  is  certainly  compelled  to  submit  to 
the  changes  of  business.  "Where  the  profits  are  small, 
the  parties  must  divide  the  loss ;  where  the  profits  are 
large,  the  profits  must  be  divided. 

"That  is  the  exact  condition ;  that  is  the  law  to-day, 
as  I  maintain,  because  the  law  is  the  perfection  of  rea- 
son, and  we  have  seen  the  law  built  up  step  after  step. 
I  recollect,  in  1869, 1  was  compelled  to  hold  that  the  legis- 
lature of  Illinois  had  no  right  arbitrarily  to  fix  the  rates 
of  carriage  of  passengers  by  railways,  and  was  com- 
pelled to  hold  that  the  railway  companies  had  no  arbi- 
trary right  to  fix  them,  but  that  it  was  a  matter  of  rea- 
sonableness on  both  sides.  It  was  then  claimed  by 
the  railroad  corporations  that  their  rights  were  abso- 
lutely uncontrollable.  The  same  principle  must  now  be 
applied  to  the  solution  of  these  troubles.  These  parties 
are  now  confronted  on  the  banks  of  the  Monongahela 
river.  Whether  the  battle  is  going  on  to-day  or  not  I  do 
not  know,  but  we  have  heard  the  report  that  the  lives 
of  American  citizens  have  been  lost  in  the  battle.  It 
will  go  on.  I  invoke  this  committee ;  I  invoke  this 
senate,  if  it  shall  appoint  the  committee  at  all,  to  let 
the  committee  have  such  powers  as  will  allow  them  to 
look  into  the  very  heart  of  this  question.  It  is  a  re- 
proach to  our  civilization  that  this  senate  and  country — 
perhaps  the  senate  has  no  control  over  it  beyond  investi- 
gation— stand  here  now  witnessing  these  two  armed 
forces  in  battle  array,  and  we  confess  we  have  no  power 
except  to  inquire.  Why  inquire?  What  is  the  use  of 
asking  the  bloody  story  to  be  recited  if  there  is  nothing 
to  be  done?  If  this  war  is  to  go  on  forever,  why  med- 


OPPOSE  CERTAIN  BILLS— HOMESTEAD  SPEECH.       509 

die  with  it?  Let  it  be  solved  as  it  may,  you  must  find 
some  principle  by  which  this  thing  can  be  done. 

"You  cannot  ask  these  laborers  to  become  slaves, 
because  if  it  is  true,  as  claimed  by  some,  that  capital- 
ists have  a  right  to  hold  over  the  heads  of  their  em- 
ployes threats  of  dismissal  at  their  pleasure,  American 
freedom  is  gone,  and  the  vote  will  be  cast  by  the  master 
who  holds  the  bread  of  the  slave.  You  must  give  to 
the  voter,  if  you  mean  that  he  shall  be  independent,  a 
fixity  of  embloyment,  so  that  he  may  defy  the  employer, 
and  say  to  him :  'My  tenure  depends,  not  on  my  vote, 
but  my  tenure  depends  upon  my  good  behavior,  upon 
my  fidelity,  my  honesty,  my  industry  and  not  upon  my 
vote.'  If  some  solution  is  not  found  in  that  direction, 
this  army  of  employes  will  be  controlled  by  the  em- 
ployers, and  there  will  be  established  an  aristocracy 
more  terrible  than  exists  in  any  free  country,  and  this 
nobility  of  wealth  will  become  our  governors. 

"But  I  may  be  asked:  Shall  these  men  lose  their 
property?  By  no  means.  They  shall  hold  their  prop- 
erty subject  to  this  public  obligation,  and  in  that  alone 
we  shall  find  the  solution  of  this  labor  trouble.  Cap- 
ital and  labor  are  confronting  each  other  now.  What  is 
the  condition  ?  The  employer  attempts  to  control  his  prop- 
erty by  force.  Why  is  that  so?  Because  American  gov- 
ernments, federal  and  state,  have  neglected  their  duty.  We 
have  stood  upon  this  volcano,  and  now  we  perceive  the 
eruption,  and  it  will  occur  constantly.  These  men  are 
holding  their  position,  as  I  maintain,  rightfully,  because 
they  have  a  right  to  employment  on  reasonable  terms. 
What,  then,  is  the  fault  of  the  government?  The  govern- 
ment has  as  yet  furnished  no  agency  by  which  their  contro- 
versies can  be  adjusted,  and  until  that  is  done,  this  blood 
is  upon  the  hands  of  every  government,  state  and  fed- 
eral, until  they  have  exhausted  all  the  resources  of  rea- 
son and  experience  in  finding  some  mode  of  avoiding 
these  troubles.  We  may  talk  about  the  effect  of  these  la- 
bor troubles  politically.  I  find  myself  quoted,  Mr.  Presi- 


510  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

dent,  as  having  spoken  of  the  influence  of  these  troubles 
upon  the  presidential  election.  If  I  said  anything  on 
that  subject  to  the  reporter  who  interviewed  me,  I  con- 
fess it  was  an  utterance  that  ought  not  to  have  been 
made,  for  when  we  stand  in  the  presence  of  these  perils — 
for  they  are  perils,  and  the  firing  on  this  boat  may  be 
the  beginning  of  a  civil  conflict,  we  cannot  tell — I  say, 
to  speak  of  their  effect  upon  the  near  approaching  elec- 
tion, is  little  short  of  a  crime.  I  hope  the  committee 
on  education  and  labor,  if  the  resolution  goes  to  that 
committee,  will  feel  that  when  they  furnish  the  senate 
with  a  history  of  this  transaction  they  have  performed 
a  work  of  supererogation.  They  ought  to  furnish  the 
senate  with  some  principle  or  rule  by  which  these  con- 
troversies can  be  settled  ;  because,  if  it  is  true  that  they 
cannot  admit  of  settlement,  if  there  is  no  rule  of  rea- 
son which  can  be  applied  to  their  solution,  then  they 
must  be  fought  out.  Either  capital  will  be  master,  and 
the  people  slaves,  or  the  people  of  the  country  will  be 
involved  in  anarchy,  and  capital  destroyed. 

"It  cannot  be  in  this  country  that,  with  the  reason, 
the  patriotism,  the  Christianity  and  intelligence  which 
characterize  our  people,  we  shall  fail  to  find  some  so- 
lution of  this  trouble.  I  have  indicated  the  only  road 
out  of  the  difficulty  which  has  yet  occurred  to  me." 


DEFENDS  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PLATFORM.  5H 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Correspondence  with  the  secretary  of  the  treasury — Defends  the  Demo- 
cratic platform — Condemns  the  tariff — Opposes  licensing  dealers  in 
options — Speech  on  the  repeal  of  the  purchasing  clause  of  the 
«  Sherman  Act." 

On  July  12,  1892,  I  asked  "consent  to  lay  before  the 
senate  for  publication  in  the  '  Record'  a  very  brief  cor- 
respondence with  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  and  di- 
rector of  the  mint  in  reference  to  silver.  I  ask  that  the 
correspondence  be  read  and  printed  in  the  'Record.' 
It  is  very  brief." 

"UNITED  STATES  SENATE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

11  July  2,  1892. 

"  Sir — I  have  the  honor  to  request  information  upon 
the  following  points  :  1.  What  number  of  the  standard 
silver  dollars  of  the  coinage  of  the  United  States  are  ac- 
cording to  the  treasury  estimates  now  in  circulation? 
2.  What  number  of  standard  silver  dollars  of  the  United 
States  are  now  in  the  treasury?  3.  What  number  of 
troy  ounces,  or  avordupois  pounds  of  silver  bullion  pur- 
chased with  silver  or  coin  certificates  are  now  in  the 
treasury?  4.  What  length  of  time  would  it  require  with 
the  present  facilities  of  the  mints  of  the  United  States  to 
coin  all  the  silver  bullion  in  the  treasury  purchased  with 
silver  or  coin  certificates,  into  standard  silver  dollars? 
5.  What  number  of  standard  silver  dollars  at  the  present 
legal  ratio  would  the  silver  bullion  in  the  treasury  pur- 
chased with  silver  or  coin  certificates,  produce  if  coined? 

"I  am  aware  that  information  upon  some  of  the  points 
presented  by  the  foregoing  questions,  is  now  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  public,  but  I  desire  an  official  statement 


512  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

from   the    treasury   department   which   will   cover   the 
points  in  the  order  above  stated. 

"Respectfully,  JOHN  M.  PALMER. 

"HoN.  CHAS.  FOSTER,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury." 

"TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  BUREAU  OF  THE  MINT, 

"WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  July  11,  1892. 
"HoN.  CHAS.  FOSTER,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

"  Sir — I  have  to  reply  to  the  inquiries  contained  in 
your  letter  of  the  2d  inst.,  as  follows  : 

"1.  The  number  of  standard  silver  dollars  in  circula- 
tion, July  1,  was  $56,779,484. 

"2.  The  number  of  silver  dollars  in  the  United  States 
treasury,  July  1,  was  $357,189,251. 

"3.  The  amount  of  silver  bullion  purchased  under 
act  of  July  14,  1890,  in  the  treasury,  July  1,  was  78,- 
933,000  troy  ounces  of  fine  silver,  or  5,412,548  avordu- 
pois  pounds. 

"4.  With  the  present  facilities  of  the  mint  of  the 
United  States,  it  would  require  nearly  two  and  one-half 
years  to  convert  this  bullion  into  silver  dollars,  doing 
no  other  coinage.  The  bullion  now  in  the  treasury  pur- 
chased under  the  act  of  July  14,  1890,  would  coin  one 
hundred  and  two  millions  fifty-five  thousand  standard 
silver  dollars.  Respectfully  yours, 

"E.  0.  LEACH,  Director  of  the  Mint. 
"HoN.  JOHN  M.  PALMER,  U.  S.  S." 

Which  led  to  a  debate  in  which  I  took  no  part.  .  .  . 
After  some  badinage  with  the  senator  from  Maine  (Mr. 
Frye)  in  regard  to  the  enforcement  of  the  Maine  liquor 
law,  I  said : 

"Mr.  President — I  reply  seriously  to  the  senator  from 
Maine.  The  laws  of  the  State  of  Illinois  prohibit  the 
opening  of  the  saloons  on  Sunday.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  Chicago,  like  all  large  cities,  is  cosmo- 
politan. It  has  not  been  found  possible  to  enforce  the 
laws  against  the  sale  of  liquor  on  Sunday.  I  do  believe, 


DEFENDS  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PLATFORM.  513 

however,  that  in  the  state  where  we  have  local  option, 
the  laws  forbidding  the  sale  of  liquors  are  as  well  en- 
forced as  they  are  in  the  State  of  Maine.  I  believe  it  to 
be  true  that  they  are  enforced  as  well  as  they  are  in  the 
State  of  Kansas  or  in  the  State  of  Iowa.  In  Chicago,  I 
confess,  the  laws  against  the  sale  of  liquors  have  not  been 
enforced,  and  they  will  not  be  enforced,  probably  until 
the  regeneration  of  human  nature. 

"If  the  Sunday  laws  could  be  enforced  in  Chicago 
against  the  sale  of  liquor  there  might  be  less  said  in 
support  of  my  views.  I  believe  that  it  would  be  ad- 
visable, that  it  would  promote  morality  to  open  the 
exposition  on  Sunday,  so  as  to  allow  persons  to  enter, 
to  see  and  to  enjoy  all  that  is  to  be  seen.  There  are 
gentlemen  who  talk  about  the  American  Sabbath.  Mr. 
President,  I  reverence  American  institutions ;  I  have 
no  eagerness  to  adopt  anything  foreign,  but  I  do  believe 
that  American  sentiment  has  undergone  a  change  under 
the  influence  of  broader  views  of  individual  rights. 
New  England  sentiment  at  one  time  actually  required  a 
very  close  observance  of  Sunday,  but  that  was  the  des- 
potism not  of  God  but  of  the  church  ;  and  it  is  a  remark- 
able fact  that  in  another  portion  of  the  Union,  where 
more  liberal  views  were  indulged,  the  morality  of  the 
people  was  as  complete  and  as  perfect  as  it  was  in  New 
England. 

"It  is  said  by  a  late  writer,  'that  it  is  very  remarkable 
that  in  New  England  where  theoretically  popular  rights 
are  most  regarded,  the  government  was  most  despotic ; 
while  in  another  quarter,  where  aristocratic  ideas  were 
to  some  extent  recognized,  actual  personal  liberty  was 
better  protected  than  in  New  England/  The  change 
has  taken  place,  and  we  cannot  resist  it.  We  may 
speak  of  the  'American  Sabbath,'  and  it  deserves  rever- 
ence, but  it  is  for  me  to  revere  the  Sabbath,  and  it  is  not 
for  me  to  impose  upon  another  that  obligation.  There 
is  the  distinction  I  make,  and  hence  the  law  of  Illinois 
33 


514  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

is,  I  maintain,  right  in  principle  and  right  in  its  appli- 
cation, that  'whoever  disturbs  the  peace  and  good  order 
of  society  by  labor  (works  of  necessity  and  charity  ex- 
cepted)  or  by  any  amusement  or  diversion  on  Sunday 
shall  be  fined  not  exceeding  twenty-five  dollars.  Who- 
ever shall  be  guilty  of  any  noise,  rout  or  amusement  on 
the  first  day  of  the  week,  called  Sunday,  whereby  the 
peace  of  any  private  family  may  be  disturbed,  shall  be 
fined  not  exceeding  twenty-five  dollars.' 

"That  I  maintain  to  be  the  just  limit  of  the  power  of 
the  state  to  enforce  Sunday  laws.  ...  I  took  part 
in  the  debates  upon  the  power  of  the  courts  of  law  to 
enforce  specific  payments  in  gold  and  denied  their  right 
to  do  so.  .  .  .  I  said  in  the  debate  upon  the  Home- 
stead question : 

"Mr.  President,  the  world  has  been  governed  very 
much  by  the  jingle  of  words,  and  no  word  has  jingled 
more  frequently  and  more  fallaciously  than  the  word 
'protection,'  that  is  so  often  vaunted  in  Republican 
platforms  and  Republican  publications.  How  is  it  now? 
We  are  told  that  the  tariff  on  wool  was  demanded  by 
the  Ohio  wool  growers,  by  what  has  been  so  aptly 
termed  the  'ram  growers  of  Ohio  that  they  demanded 
protection.'  According  to  reports  it  has  not  benefitted 
them ;  but  in  Illinois  and  Iowa,  where  a  different  kind 
of  wool  is  produced,  it  has  declined  steadily  since  the 
passage  of  the  McKinley  act. 

"In  1890,  I  speak  now  of  matters  within  my  personal 
knowledge,  having  some  connection  with  the  peculiar 
wool  growing  interests  of  Illinois,  wool  was  sold,  such 
as  we  produced,  at  twenty-six  cents  in  the  fleece. 

"In  1891  the  same  crop  was  sold  at  twenty-four  cents. 
In  1892  the  same  clip  from  the  same  sheep,  with  such 
additions  as  have  been  added  by  mere  growth,  sold  at 
twenty-one  cents  a  pound.  Now,  the  promise  was  that 
wool  in  common  with  other  wool  would  advance  as 
the  result  of  the  McKinley  tariff.  We  were  promised 
an  advance  on  our  farm  products  ;  wheat  we  were  told 


DEFENDS  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PLATFORM.  515 

would  advance.  The  domestic  markets  we  were  told 
would  advance.  The  condition  of  prices  in  the  west  is 
an  answer  to  that  promise.  It  has  not  been  fulfilled. 
.  .  .  I  know  of  one  farm  product  upon  which  there 
was  a  very  large  duty.  I  do  not  know  that  I  ever  felt 
more  humiliated  than  in  1888,  in  witnessing  the  prac- 
tical operation  of  the  duty  on  potatoes.  I  was  in  the 
town  of  Sycamore,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State  of 
Illinois,  one  of  the  most  intelligent  communities  in  the 
state.  I  stopped  with  a  friend  (Mr.  Boynton)  whose 
views  were  very  pronounced.  He  said,  'Come  here,  let 
me  show  you  something.'  I  saw  an  Irish  laborer  travel- 
ing from  store  to  store,  and  the  potatoes  he  bought  had 
upon  them  a  duty  of  twenty-five  cents  a  bushel.  My 
friend  said,  'What  a  tariff  this  is  that  never  operates 
except  in  time  of  famine  !' 

".  .  .  On  July  27,  1892,  I  opposed  a  bill  for 
licensing  dealers  in  options,  and  said,  among  other 
things,  'I  put  the  question  to  the  senator  from  Minne- 
sota or  Oregon,  can  congress  define  and  punish  gambling 
in  the  states  ?  Does  not  this  bill  define  that  which  is 
gambling,  and  does  it  not  seek  to  suppress  and  punish 
it?  Can  congress  then  acquire  jurisdiction  by  selecting 
a  constitutional  mode  of  doing  an  unconstitutional 
thing?  It  is  a  possible  conception  to  a  lawyer  that  by 
the  mere  choice  of  the  manner  of  doing  it  congress  may 
acquire  the  power  of  doing  that  which  it  could  not  do 
directly.  ...  In  Illinois  we  have  a  statute  which 
is  rigid  enough,  and  if  it  were  enforced  would  suppress 
this  evil  within  the  limits  of  that  state. 

"Mr.  President,  I  have  no  embarrassment  in  regard 
to  my  position  on  this  measure.  During  my  canvass  for 
senator  in  Illinois,  I  was  asked  publicly  by  a  body  which 
claimed  to  represent  the  farmers  of  Illinois,  whether  I 
would  vote  for  a  bill  like  this,  and  by  a  public  letter,  or 
a  letter  which  was  published,  and  by  speeches  the  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  state,  I  said,  'No.'  The  option  clause 
of  the  first  section  of  the  bill  is  much  less  satisfactor}?' 


516  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

and  comprehensive  to  my  mind  than  the  statute  of  Illi- 
nois on  the  same  subject.  We  have  in  that  state  a  well- 
considered  statute  which  covers  all  and  much  more  than 
the  first  section  of  this  bill. 

"The  statute  of  Illinois  does  not  attempt  to  define  op- 
tions, but  it  is  assumed  in  the  statute  that  the  word 
'options'  is  one  that  has  a  known  legal  signification,  and 
dealing  in  'options'  is  prohibited,  and  is  punished,  in 
addition,  by  adequate  fines  and  penalties.  I,  therefore, 
said  to  those  who  asked  me,  that,  there  being  a  law  in 
the  state,  a  careful,  well-considered  statute,  nothing  more 
could  be  gained  by  legislation. 

"It  was  said  to  me  by  gentlemen  who  differed  with 
me,  that  the  'law  of  Illinois  was  not  thoroughly  en- 
forced.' I  admitted  that  to  be  true,  and  I  said,  and  say 
here,  that  'it  is  not  wise  to  enact  laws  simply  to  be  dis- 
regarded.' I  apprehend  that  this  proposed  law  would, 
like  that,  be  disregarded  if  it  were  free  from  any  consti- 
tutional objection. 

"I  regret,  Mr.  President,  this  disposition  on  the  part 
of  the  people,  for  it  was  with  them,  and  a  disposition 
which  I  find  echoed  by  their  representatives  in  the  states 
and  in  congress  to  multiply  criminal  or  penal  statutes. 
It  may  be  said,  and  it  seems  contradictory,  too,  to  say 
it,  that  the  enactment  of  a  law  which  public  opinion 
will  not  sustain  and  enforce  is  of  itself  demoralizing. 
The  example  of  the  disregard  of  law  is  of  itself  an  evil. 
Legislation,  in  my  judgment,  to  be  wise,  must  be  but 
the  mere  expression  of  the  public  will,  and  supported  by 
the  public  conscience.  If  we  are  to  believe  the  reports 
we  have  through  the  press,  option  dealing  in  most  of  the 
large  cities  is  regarded  as  absolutely  free  from  offense. 
I  regret  that  it  is  so,  but  it  is  the  case  ;  and,  while  that 
state  of  public  sentiment  exists,  it  seems  to  me  unwise  to 
multiply  mere  formal  declarations,  and  frequently  laws 
of  that  sort  are  passed  in  the  state  and  in  congress  from 
a  mere  suspicion  that  they  are  demanded  by  the  people, 
when  really  they  are  not. 


DEFENDS  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PLATFORM.  517 

".  .  .  I  will  read  the  first  section  :  'That,  for  the 
purposes  of  this  act,  the  word  "options"  shall  be  under- 
stood to  mean  any  contract  or  agreement  whereby  any 
party  thereto,  or  any  party  for  whom  or  in  whose  behalf 
any  such  contract  or  agreement  is  made,  acquires  the 
right  or  privilege,  but  is  not  thereby  obligated  to  deliver 
to  another  or  others,  at  a  future  time,  or  within  a  desig- 
nated period,  any  of  the  articles  mentioned  in  section  3 
of  this  act.'  As  I  suppose,  contracts  precisely  such  as 
are  defined  in  this  section  are  unknown  in  commerce, 
are  valueless  ;  it  would  do  no  harm  and  no  good.  The 
'options'  of  the  books  and  the  laws  are  contracts  for  the 
sale  and  delivery  of  articles  at  a  future  time,  with  an 
express  or  implied  agreement  that  the  articles  are  not  to 
be  delivered  according  to  the  contract,  but  that  the  differ- 
ence between  values  at  two  periods,  the  time  of  the  sale 
and  the  time  of  the  supposed  delivery,  are  to  be  ad- 
justed by  the  parties.  Those  are  the  options  of  the  text- 
books. 

".  .  .  No  Democratic  convention  would  hold  that 
congress  might  take  jurisdiction  of  the  whole  police 
power  of  the  state  by  professing  to  license  that  which  it 
is  intended  to  prohibit.  We  would  never  consent  that 
congress  would  adopt  Parisian  legislation  by  requiring 
a  license  which  might  prohibit  them.  We  should  never 
expect  a  Democratic  senate  to  favor  a  system  of  licenses 
directed  to  all  the  crimes  and  prohibit  them  by  excessive 
taxes." 

I  took  further  part  in  the  debate  upon  the  bill  licens- 
ing options,  which  is  omitted. 

I  discussed  a  measure  that  contemplated  a  national 
quarantine.  ...  I  opposed  a  bill  for  the  relief  of 
Win.  McGarraghan.  The  bill  proposed  to  refer  this 
claim  again  to  the  courts.  I  remarked  :  I  came  into  the 
senate  without  any  opinions  in  regard  to  this  claim.  It 
is  obvious  that  the  bill  legalizes  evidence  that  will  insure 
an  award  against  the  United  States.  1  think  I  can  see 
that  the  bill  formulates  a  state  of  facts  which  will  make 


518  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

it  the  duty  of  the  court  to  allow  the  claim  of  McGarra- 
ghan.  I  observe  that  the  bill  carefully  removes  out  of 
the  way  a  large  number  of  judicial  decisions  or  findings 
if  they  stand  in  the  way  of  the  claim,  so  that  the  bill 
first  removes  out  of  the  way  every  legal  obstruction  to 
to  his  claim,  and  formulates  evidence  which  will  insure 
an  award  in  his  favor. 

The  section  that  provides  that  "the  United  States 
shall  also  indemnify  him  for  any  mineral  or  valuable 
substance  whatever,  extracted  from  said  lands  by  any 
person  or  corporation  other  than  the  said  William  Mc- 
Garrahan,  and  if  said  court  shall  find  that  said  William 
McGarrahan  is,  or  was,  entitled  in  law  or  equity  to  the 
minerals  or  valuable  substances  in  or  under  said  lands, 
it  is  made  the  duty  of  the  court  to  ascertain  the  value, 
and  the  United  States  is  required  to  pay."  I  argued 
further  that  no  one  had  undertaken  to  say  what  responsi- 
bility would  be  imposed  upon  the  United  States.  .  .  . 
I  advocated  the  use  of  "couplers"  on  cars.  ...  I 
advocated  the  issue  of  bonds  to  raise  money  to  maintain 
the  reserve. 

On  August  7,  1893,  the  president  convened  a  special 
session  of  congress  to  consider  the  repeal  of  the  "pur- 
chasing clause  of  the  Sherman  act."  On  August  22d,  I 
delivered  the  following  speech  : 

"Mr.  President,  it  has  been  said  on  this  floor  that  every 
Democratic  senator  present  at  the  time,  voted  against  the 
passage  of  the  act  of  July  14,  1890.  The  Chicago  con- 
vention, in  terse  and  vigorous  language,  denounced  the 
measure  and  demanded  its  repeal,  and  the  presidential 
candidate  nominated  by  that  convention  and  elected  by 
the  people  of  the  United  States,  concluded  his  last  mes- 
sage to  congress,  saying :  'I  seriously  recommend  the 
prompt  repeal  of  the  act  passed  July  14,  1890,  authoriz- 
ing the  purchase  of  silver  bullion,  and  that  other  legis- 
lative action  may  put  beyond  all  doubt  or  mistake,  the 
intention  and  the  ability  of  the  government  to  fulfill  all 


DEFENDS  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PLATFORM.  519 

its  pecuniary  obligations  in  money  universally  recog- 
nized by  all  civilized  countries.' 

"Thus  it  will  be  seen  the  act  of  July  14,  1890,  was  op- 
posed by  all  the  Democratic  senators  when  it  was  passed, 
was  denounced  by  the  national  Democratic  convention  in 
1892,  and  the  president,  acting  in  the  strictest  accord- 
ance with  the  declaration  of  the  convention,  impressed 
with  the  measureless  evils  inflicted  upon  the  country  by 
the  measure,  has  convened  the  congress  in  which  the 
Democratic  party  has  complete  ascendancy,  and  urges 
upon  that  body  the  'prompt  repeal  of  the  provisions  of 
the  act  of  July  14,  1890,  authorizing  the  purchase  of 
silver  bullion.' 

"This  manifest  concurrence  of  Democratic  opinion 
would  seem  to  justify  the  expectation  of  the  country  that 
the  so-called  'Sherman  act,'  or  at  least  its  objectionable 
parts,  would  be  repealed  at  once  after  the  meeting  of 
congress,  and  the  business  of  the  country  relieved  from 
evils  so  forcibly  depicted  by  the  president. 

"The  expectation  of  the  early  repeal  of  the  provisions 
of  the  act  that  authorizes  the  purchase  of  silver  bullion, 
was  before  the  meeting  of  congress,  so  firmly  fixed  in  the 
public  mind  that  the  people  of  the  country,  who  are  suf- 
fering the  evils  brought  upon  them  by  this  vicious  legis- 
lation, expected  that  congress  would  act  at  the  earliest 
moment  for  their  relief.  They  expected  that  a  Demo- 
cratic congress  would  promptly  respond,  in  the  spirit  of 
the  Democratic  platform,  to  the  urgent  recommendation 
of  a  Democratic  president,  and  repeal  the  law  so  de- 
structive to  the  public  interests,  and  so  generally  and 
justly  condemned  by  the  public  opinion.  I  admit  that 
it  was  feared  by  many  and  predicted  by  a  few,  that  Re- 
publican  members  of  congress,  and  especially  Republican 
senators,  would  in  some  way  labor  to  embarrass  Demo- 
crats in  their  efforts  to  repeal  a  measure,  passed  by  a 
Republican  congress,  and  approved  by  a  Republican 
president,  and  it  was  reported  that  certain  senators  who 
are  considered  by  the  country  pre-eminently  the  cham- 


520  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

pions  of  the  silver  interests,  had  'given  out  in  speeches' 
that  they  would  resort  to  all  the  parliamentary  methods 
allowed  by  the  peculiar  rules  of  this  body,  to  delay  final 
action  upon  the  question  of  repeal. 

"But  it  is  gratifying  to  find  that  the  conduct  of  some 
leading  Republican  senators  warrant  the  belief  that  the 
fears  of  the  many,  and  the  predictions  of  the  few,  were  un- 
founded. 

"The  junior  senator  from  Massachusetts,  fresh  from 
the  other  branch  of  congress,  where  he  had  distinguished 
himself  as  a  party  leader,  at  an  early  day  in  this  session, 
proposed  the  absolute  repeal  of  that  part  of  the  act  of 
July  14,  1890,  which  provides  for  the  purchase  of  silver 
bullion.  The  senior  senator  from  the  same  state,  with- 
out defending  the  act,  only  justifies  its  passage  as  neces- 
sary to  the  defeat  of  another  measure,  which  he  regarded 
as  far  more  objectionable. 

"And  the  distinguished  senator  from  Ohio,  whose 
name  is  connected  with  the  act,  explains  his  vote  in  its 
favor  upon  the  same  grounds,  and  both  these  eminent 
leaders  avow  their  readiness  to  vote  for  the  repeal,  and 
there  are  reasons  for  believing  that  a  majority  of  the  Re- 
publican senators  are  ready  to  co-operate  with  them  to 
the  same  end. 

"And  the  senators  from  the  so-called  silver  states  have 
shown  no  disposition  to  hinder  or  obstruct  an  early  con- 
sideration of  the  recommendation  of  the  president. 

"Mr.  President,  like  the  distinguished  senator  from 
Missouri,  to  whose  eloquent  speech  we  listened  a  few  days 
ago  with  so  much  pleasure,  I  supported  the  president, 
and  urged  others  to  do  so,  upon  the  distinct  ground 
that  in  his  letter  accepting  the  nomination  offered  him 
by  the  Democratic  convention  he  avowed  his  devotion  to 
Democratic  principles  as  defined  by  the  party  platform  ; 
and  I  maintain,  in  opposition  to  the  criticism  of  the 
senator  from  Missouri,  that  the  recommendations  con- 
tained in  the  late  message  of  the  president,  are  not 
only  in  accordance  with  the  Chicago  platform,  but  prac- 


DEFENDS  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PLATFORM.  521 

tically  cover  the  whole  financial  policy  outlined  in  the 
Chicago  resolutions. 

"To  make  this  point  clear,  I  quote  from  the  platform  : 
'We  hold  to  the  use  of  both  gold  and  silver  as  the  stand- 
ard of  the  country,  and  to  the  coinage  of  both  gold  and 
silver  without  discriminating  against  either  metal  or 
charge  for  mintage,  but  the  dollar  unit  of  coinage  of 
both  metals  must  be  of  equal  intrinsic  and  exchange- 
able value,  or  be  adjusted  through  international  agree- 
ment, or  by  such  safeguards  of  legislation  as  shall  in- 
sure the  maintenance  of  the  parity  of  the  two  metals 
and  the  equal  power  of  every  dollar  at  all  times  in  the 
markets,  and  in  the  payment  of  debt,  and  we  demand 
that  all  paper  currency  shall  be  kept  at  par  with  and  re- 
deemable in  such  coin.  We  insist  upon  this  policy  as 
especially  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  farmers  and 
laboring  classes,  the  first  and  most  defenseless  victims 
of  unstable  money  and  fluctuating  currency.'  And  for 
the  same  purpose,  and  to  make  the  comparison  easy,  I 
again  quote  the  recommendation  of  the  message :  'I 
seriously  recommend  the  prompt  repeal  of  the  act  passed 
July  14, 1890,  authorizing  the  purchase  of  silver  bullion, 
and  that  other  legislative  action  may  put  beyond  all  doubt 
or  mistake  the  intention  and  the  ability  of  the  govern- 
ment to  fulfill  all  of  its  pecuniary  obligations  in  money 
universally  recognized  by  all  civilized  countries.' 

"Nothing  can  be  more  emphatic  or  clear,  as  will  appear 
by  the  platform,  than  its  denunciation  of  the  Republican 
legislation,  known  as  the  'Sherman  Act  of  1890,'  and 
the  demand  for  its  repeal  is  equally  emphatic.  It  was 
denounced  as  so  fraught  with  possibilities  of  danger 
that  all  its  supporters,  as  well  as  its  author,  should  be 
anxious  for  its  repeal.  The  platform  further  asserts, 
speaking  for  the  whole  Democratic  party  :  'We  hold  to 
the  use  of  both  gold  and  silver,  as  the  standard  money 
of  the  country,  and  to  the  coinage  of  both  gold  and  sil- 
ver without  discriminating  against  either  metal,  or 
charge  for  mintage,'  and  the  president,  without  reiterat- 


522  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

ing  the  language  of  the  platform,  affirms,  in  substance, 
that  the  dollar  unit  of  coinage  of  both  metals  must  be 
of  equal  intrinsic  and  exchangeable  value,  and  in  effect 
recommends  to  congress  such  legislation  as  shall  'insure 
the  maintenance  of  the  parity  of  the  two  metals,  and 
the  equal  power  of  every  dollar  at  all  times  in  the  mar- 
kets and  in  the  payment  of  debts,  and  that  all  paper 
currency  shall  be  kept  at  par  with  and  redeemable  in 
such  coin.'  And  the  president,  without  specific  sugges- 
tion as  to  the  methods,  after  recommending  the  prompt 
repeal  of  the  act  passed  July  14,  1890,  urges  'other  legis- 
lative action  (and  he  means  undoubtedly  in  the  line  of 
the  platform)  that  may  put  beyond  all  doubt  or  mistake 
the  intention  and  the  ability  of  the  government  to  fulfill 
all  its  pecuniary  obligations  in  the  money  universally 
recognized  by  all  civilized  countries.'  It  certainly  re- 
quires no  argument  to  prove  that  all  civilized  countries 
recognize  the  American  dollar  unit,  of  both  gold  and 
silver,  when  of  equal  intrinsic  and  exchangeable  value, 
and  of  equal  power  at  all  times  in  the  markets,  and  in 
the  payment  of  debts,  and  all  civilized  countries  recog- 
nize a  paper  currency  at  all  times  kept  at  par  with  and 
redeemable  in  such  coin. 

"As  the  convention  specifically  denounced  the  act  of 
July  14,  1890,  as  fraught  with  future  danger,  the  presi- 
dent might  well  specifically  urge  its  prompt  repeal,  now 
that  the  anticipated  danger  of  evil  results  are  realized. 
And  the  country  may  reasonably  expect  that  a  Demo- 
cratic congress  will  promptly  respond  to  the  executive 
recommendation.  Nor  can  it  be  a  just  complaint  by  the 
supporters  of  the  Chicago  platform  who  are  not  com- 
mitted to  the  proposition  that  the  dollar  unit  of  coinage 
of  both  gold  and  silver,  must  be  of  equal  intrinsic  and 
exchangeable  value,  and  of  equal  power  at  all  times  in 
the  markets,  and  in  the  payment  of  debts,  that  the 
president  submits  it  to  the  wisdom  of  congress  to  devise 
and  adopt  legislation  that  will  put  beyond  all  doubt  or 
mistake  the  intention  and  the  ability  of  the  government 


DEFENDS  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PLATFORM.  523 

to  fulfill  all  its  pecuniary  obligations  in  money  univer- 
sally recognized  by  all  civilized  countries.' 

"But  the  senator  from  Missouri  says:  'We  are  told 
that  the  repeal  of  the  so-called  "Sherman  act,"  or  the 
purchasing  clause,  is  all  that  is  necessary  at  the  present 
conjuncture,  and  that  the  clouds  will  be  immediately 
lifted  from  the  business  and  financial  horizon,  and  the 
sun  of  prosperity  again  beam  upon  every  portion  of  our 
land.'  It  may  be  that  there  are  some  who  believe  that 
the  repeal  of  the  purchasing  clause  of  the  so-called  Sher- 
man act  is  all  that  is  necessary  at  the  present  conjecture, 
but  it  is  obvious  from  the  language  of  the  message  that 
the  president  is  not  one  'of  those  who  so  believe  ;'  that  he 
regards  the  repeal  of  the  purchasing  clause  as  essentially 
necessary  to  the  return  of  prosperity  is  manifest,  not 
only  from  his  specific  recommendation  that  it  be  promptly 
repealed,  but  from  the  overwhelming  proofs  he  furnishes 
that  the  dangers  with  which  it  was  fraught  are  now 
realized,  and  though  the  president  makes  no  specific 
reference  to  the  coinage  of  silver,  it  cannot  fairly  be 
urged  by  anything  said  by  him  in  the  message  that  he 
does  not  now,  as  he  did  in  his  letter  accepting  the  nomi- 
nation made  at  Chicago,  hold  to  the  use  of  gold  and 
silver  as  the  standard  money  of  the  country,  and  the  coin- 
age of  both  gold  and  silver  without  discriminating  against 
either  metal,  nor  does  it  follow  because  he  fails  to  say  one 
word  in  regard  to  bimetallism  he  would  disapprove  of 
legislation  which  would  provide  that  the  unit  of  coinage 
of  both  metals  should  be  of  equal  intrinsic  value  at  all 
times,  in  the  markets,  and  in  the  payment  of  debts,  and 
I  will  add  the  expression  of  the  opinion  that  the  great 
majority  of  the  American  people  would  not  only  approve, 
but  would  rapturously  applaud  legislation  which  would 
establish  and  maintain  the  bimetallism  of  the  Chicago 
resolutions.  I  do  not  now  pause  to  inquire  whether  bi- 
metallism as  defined  by  the  platform  is  attainable  by 
either  of  the  methods  suggested  in  that  paper,  'an  inter- 
national agreement,  or  the  safeguards  of  legislation,'  or 


524  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

by  a  combination  of  both,  but  I  am  sure  that  no  loyal 
adherent  to  the  Chicago  platform  will  consent  to  the 
coinage  of  either  gold  or  silver,  unless  the  dollar  unit  of 
coinage  of  both  metals  be  of  equal  intrinsic  and  ex- 
changeable value,  and  with  the  equal  power  of  every 
dollar  at  all  times  in  the  markets,  and  in  the  payment  of 
debts,  for  it  is  declared  by  the  platform  'that  this  policy 
is  especially  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  farmers 
and  laboring  classes,  the  first  and  most  defenseless  vic- 
tims of  unstable  money  and  fluctuating  currency.' 

"Mr.  President — The  senator  from  Missouri  no  doubt 
favors  bimetallism  and  free  coinage  as  denned  in  the 
Chicago  platform,  and  I  think  I  may  venture  to  say  that 
he  holds  to  the  use  of  both  gold  and  silver  as  the  stand- 
ard money  of  the  country,  and  to  the  coinage  of  both 
gold  and  silver  without  discriminating  against  either 
metal,  insisting,  however,  that  the  dollar  unit  of  coin- 
age of  both  metals  shall  be  of  equal  intrinsic  and  ex- 
changeable value,  with  the  equal  power  of  every  dollar 
at  all  times  in  the  markets  and  in  the  payment  of  debts. 
If  I  am  correct  in  this  statement  of  the  views  of  the 
senator  from  Missouri,  I  most  cordially  concur  with  him, 
and  am  ready  to  follow  his  lead  in  promoting  legislation 
which  will  secure  that  result  to  the  country. 

"Mr.  President — The  purchasing  clause  of  the  Sherman 
law  does  not  aid  the  free  coinage  of  silver.  I  make  this 
statement  upon  the  authority  of  the  distinguished  sen- 
ator from  Missouri,  and  if  anything  more  was  needed  to 
establish  the  truth  of  that  assertion,  it  will  be  developed 
by  the  origin,  object  and  history  of  the  law,  and  by  ref- 
erence to  the  facts  which  illustrate  its  influence  upon  the 
financial  situation  of  the  country. 

"The  act  of  July  14,  1890,  originated  in  the  councils 
of  the  Republican  party.  Its  object  and  purpose  was  to 
defeat  the  free  coinage  of  silver  upon  the  then  existing 
ratio.  The  object  and  purpose  is  avowed  by  the  senator 
from  Ohio,  its  putative  author,  and  whose  name  it  bears, 
and  his  avowal  is  confirmed  by  the  distinguished  sen- 


DEFENDS  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PLATFORM.  525 

ator  from  Massachusetts,  whose  means  of  knowledge 
are  equal  to  those  possessed  by  the  senator  from  Ohio 
himself.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  measure 
was  favored  by  senators  from  the  silver-producing  states, 
for  the  reason  that  it  provided  for  the  monthly  coinage 
of  two  millions  of  ounces  of  silver  dollars  until  July  1, 
1891,  and  made  perpetual  provision  for  the  monthly 
purchase  of  four  and  a  half  millions  of  ounces  of  silver 
bullion.  They  abandoned  the  free  coinage  of  silver, 
which  seems  to  have  been  within  their  reach,  for  the 
sake  of  a  market  for  a  large  proportion  of  the  silver 
product  of  the  United  States  for  the  preceding  year. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  object  of  the  authors  of 
the  act,  or  the  combination  of  interests  that  secured  its 
passage,  it  is  the  belief  of  its  authors  that  its  passage 
defeated  the  measure  of  free  coinage  which  was  then 
impending,  and  I  believe  that  its  effect  has  been  to 
render  the  coinage  of  silver  upon  the  bimetallic  plan  of 
the  Chicago  platform  exceeding  difficult,  if  not  impos- 
sible. Bimetallic  coinage  is  not  possible  while  the  pur- 
chasing clause  of  the  act  of  July  14,  1890,  remains  in 
force,  and  is  executed  by  the  secretary  of  the  treasury. 

"The  only  power  possessed  by  congress  with  respect 
to  the  purchase  of  gold  or  silver,  or  other  metals,  results 
from  the  grant. of  power  to  'coin  money,  regulate  the 
value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  coins.' 

"In  the  exercise  of  this  power,  congress  may  provide 
for  the  purchase  of  any  of  the  metals  used  for  coinage 
purposes,  in  whatever  form  they  may  be  found.  Mill- 
ions of  avoirdupois  pounds  of  silver  bullion,  which  we 
cannot  coin  upon  a  ratio  yet  ascertained,  or  established, 
and  which,  from  its  volume,  is  a  menace  to  the  silver 
market,  and  is  so  worthless  as  a  fund  for  the  redemption 
of  the  treasury  notes  issued  for  its  purchase,  that  though 
they  are  nominally  payable  in  gold  or  silver  coin  at  the 
discretion  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  and  made  by 
law  a  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public  and  private,  ex- 
cept when  otherwise  expressly  stipulated  in  the  contract, 


526  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

and  are  receivable  for  customs,  taxes  and  all  public  dues, 
and  when  held  by  any  national  banking  association,  may 
be  counted  as  a  part  of  its  lawful  reserve,  their  parity 
has  only  been  maintained  by  the  established  fixed  belief 
in  the  public  mind  that  no  secretary  of  the  treasury 
would  dare  exercise  his  discretion  to  redeem  them  in 
silver  coin. 

"And  yet,  senators  who  voted  against  the  act  of  1890, 
and  were  then  fully  impressed  with  the  dangers  of  the 
business  interest  of  the  country,  with  which  it  was 
fraught,  and  who  adhere  to  the  Chicago  platform,  now 
refuse  to  vote  for  its  unconditional  repeal.  The  reasons 
given  by  senators  for  the  refusal  to  vote  for  the  repeal, 
are  quite  as  surprising  as  the  refusal  itself. 

"The  senator  from  Missouri,  in  the  speech  from  which 
I  have  already  quoted,  and  the  senator  from  Arkansas, 
who  uses  nearly  the  same  language,  in  speaking  of  the 
act  in  question,  said :  'I  am  willing  to  repeal  it,  but  I 
am  not  willing  to  give  up  the  whole  silver  question  with 
the  repeal/  and  after  an  interruption,  he  added:  'I 
meant  to  say  that  until  there  is  some  assurance  that  we 
are  not  to  go  to  a  gold  standard,  and  we  are  not  giving 
up  the  last  muniment  of  silver,  and  leave  it  without  any 
legislation,  we  do  not  propose  to  take  a  step  which  leads 
to  monometallism.' 

"Mr.  President,  how  can  the  repeal  of  the  act  amount 
to  giving  up  the  whole  silver  question  ?  To  whom  does 
the  senator  look  for  an  assurance  that  we  are  not  to  go 
to  the  gold  standard,  and  who  has  authority  to  give  to  the 
senator  such  an  assurance,  and  in  what  sense  can  the 
Sherman  act  be  called  the  'last  muniment  of  silver?' 
And  if  a  muniment  of  silver,  what  is  its  value,  and  as 
it  deals  with  silver  (which  until  its  passage  was  a  money 
metal)  as  a  mere  commodity,  how  can  its  repeal  be  a 
step  which  leads  to  or  is  in  the  direction  of  mono- 
metallism ? 

"The  passage  of  the  act  of  July  14,  1890,  gave  up  the 
whole  silver  question,  as  it  expressly  provided  that  the 


DEFENDS  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PLATFORM.  527 

coinage  of  standard  silver  dollars  should  cease  on  July 
1,  1891,  and  that  silver  bullion  should  be  bought  in  the 
open  markets  without  making  any  specific  provision  for 
its  coinage.  Under  its  operation,  the  price  of  silver  ad- 
vanced to  the  average  ratio  of  gold  of  19.76  in  1890,  but 
it  was  so  ineffectual  that  in  1893  the  ratio  of  gold  in- 
creased to  the  disadvantage  of  silver  to  28.52. 

"Mr.  President — The  country  is  now  at  the  gold  stand- 
ard ;  there  is  no  use  in  attempting  to  disguise  the  fact. 
Silver,  the  only  rival  of  gold  as  a  money  metal,  is  made 
by  the  act  before  us,  and  is  regarded  in  the  world  of 
commerce  and  trade  as  a  mere  commodity  to  be  priced 
in  gold.  Silver  coin  now  performs  but  a  mere  subsid- 
ary  office,  and  can  never  reach  a  higher  plane  of  use- 
fulness until  the  dollar  unit  of  silver  be  made  of  equal 
and  intrinsic  and  exchangeable  value  to  the  dollar  of 
gold,  and  be  impressed  with  equal  power  in  the  markets 
and  in  the  payment  of  debts. 

"In  order  to  this  end,  the  act  of  July  14,  1890,  which 
at  once  operates  to  increase  the  glut  of  silver  in  the  al- 
ready overcharged  treasury,  and  disturbs  the  silver  mar- 
ket by  subjecting  it  to  unnatural  conditions,  must  be 
repealed. 

"Mr.  President — I  do  not  despair  of  bimetallism  as 
defined  in  the  Chicago  platform,  but  I  do  believe  that, 
in  the  present  state  of  the  silver  market,  it  is  beyond 
the  power  of  any  finite  mind  to  fix  a  ratio  of  silver  to  gold 
that  will  produce  that  result.  The  market  value  of  silver 
bullion  is  in  a  state  of  chronic  fluctuation  ;  it  is  affected 
by  constantly  disturbing  conditions,  of  which  the  con- 
tinued operation  of  the  act  of  July  14,  1890,  is  one  of 
the  most  potent.  The  country  is  committed  to  the  pres- 
ent ratio,  not  only  by  law,  but  by  the  fact  that  there  is  a 
stock  of  silver  coin  in  the  United  States  estimated,  on 
January  1,  1893,  at  $492,903,266,  all  of  which  would  be 
practically  converted  into  bullion  by  an  alteration  of  the 
ratio,  for  it  would  be  necessary  to  recoin  silver  coin  in 


528  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  treasury,  and  to  redeem  that  in  the  possession  of  the 
people.  I  repeat,  that  it  is  impossible  now,  by  any 
agency  that  has  been  suggested,  to  find  and  fix  upon  a 
ratio  which  will  afford  or  produce  the  essential  condi- 
tions of  bimetallism,  which  is,  that  the  dollar  unit  of 
coinage  of  both  metals  possess  equal  intrinsic  and  ex- 
changeable value,  and  the  dollar  of  both  metals  to  pos- 
sess equal  power  at  all  times  in  the  markets  and  in  the 
payment  of  debts.  The  coinage  of  silver  upon  any 
other  ratio  than  one  which  would  certainly  produce  bi- 
metallism would  be  but  to  introduce  a  new  element  of 
uncertainty  and  confusion  which  would  not  only  con- 
tinue, but  aggravate,  the  condition  of  financial  distress 
which  has  not  only  ruined  the  silver-producing  states,  but 
threatens  all  the  industries  of  the  country. 

"Mr.  President — The  country  is  now  upon  a  gold 
basis,  and  the  values  of  all  property  and  of  all  com- 
odities,  including  as  well  silver  as  all  the  products  of 
the  farm  and  of  the  factories,  are  now  fixed  and  regu- 
lated by  gold. 

"Mr.  President — Ours  is  a  country  of  marvelous  re- 
sources ;  it  is  increasing  in  population  and  wealth  and 
power  with  a  rapidity  unexampled  in  the  history  of  na- 
tions, and  at  present,  in  my  opinion,  there  are  but  two 
lines  of  policy  which  can  offer  the  least  possible  hope  for 
escape  from  our  present  situation  of  embarrassment  and 
distress.  One  of  these  lines  of  policy  is  to  repeal  the 
purchasing  clause  of  the  Sherman  act,  and  then,  by 
'legislative  action,'  put  beyond  all  doubt  or  mistake  the 
intention  of  the  government  to  fulfill  all  its  pecuniary 
obligations  in  money  universally  recognized  by  all  civil- 
ized countries.  This  course  will  be  consonant  with  the 
character  of  the  great,  manly  American  people.  We 
are  not,  as  might  be  inferred  from  some  of  the  speeches 
made  upon  this  floor,  timid  mendicants,  trembling  in 
the  presence  of  the  financial  power  of  England  ;  we  are, 
or  will  be  when  we  recover  our  natural  courage,  the 


DEFENDS  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PLATFORM.  529 

rivals,  not  only  of  the  little  island  so  often  mentioned, 
but  of  Great  Britain,  which  includes  so  large  a  portion 
of  the  globe. 

"Mr.  President — With  commerce  unshackled  by  use- 
less restrictions,  and  a  mercantile  marine  which  an  un- 
shackeled  commerce  will  create,  the  United  States  will 
meet  our  English  rivals  in  every  port,  and  will  demand 
and  obtain  our  fair  share  of  the  money  recognized  by 
all  civilized  nations. 

"I  once  saw  my  country  torn  by  contending  armies; 
one  portion  of  it  desolated  by  war,  and  its  industrial  sys- 
tem overthrown  ;  the  other,  which  represented  the  exist- 
ing government,  often  defeated  and  on  the  very  verge  of 
bankruptcy,  but  never  yielding  to  despair.  When  it  was 
threatened  by  the  England  who  is  now  so  much  dreaded, 
with  armed  intervention  and  possible  dismemberment, 
still  I  never  faltered  in  my  hope  of  restored  unity,  in 
increased  national  strength  and  of  national  prosperity 
unequaled  in  our  previous  national  life. 

"I  do  not  now  doubt  the  firmness  and  courage  of  my 
countrymen.  They  will  not  consent  to  take  refuge  from 
the  financial  power  of  England  by  the  adoption  of  a 
mere  timid  inter-territorial  system  of  coinage,  estab- 
lished and  enforced  by  a  ruthless  law  which  disregards 
intrinsic  values,  and  isolates  them  from  the  world  and 
its  commerce,  which  they  hope  at  no  distant  day  to  dom- 
inate and  control — and  will  deprive  them  of  the  lead  in 
enlightened  civilization,  which  they  may  now  fairly 
claim  to  hold. 

"The  American  people  will  not  now  adopt  the  cast-off 
systems  of  India  and  of  the  least  civilized  peoples  of 
the  world — no  middle  ground  is  possible.  The  gold 
standard  is  upon  us ;  bimetallism,  as  defined  by  the 
Chicago  platform,  is  possible — after  all  obstructions  to 
its  adoption  are  removed — but  we  cannot  now  enter 
upon  the  doubtful  experiment  of  new  ratios.  We  can 
relieve  the  business  of  the  country  by  resolutely  repeal- 
34 


530  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

ing  the  Sherman  act,  and  in  that  way  withdraw  the 
treasury  from  the  silver  market.  We  should  adhere  to 
the  present  ratio,  and  by  laws  judiciously  framed  en- 
courage the  use  of  silver  coin,  and  then  calmly  watch 
the  influence  of  events  upon  the  relative  values  of  the 
two  metals,  ready  to  take  advantage  of  circumstances, 
with  the  hope  that  by  the  use  of  effective  means  the 
country  will  at  no  distant  day  reach  the  point  when 
both  gold  and  silver  can  be  coined  and  used  without 
discrimination  between  them,  and  the  dollar  unit  of 
both  metals  be  of  equal  intrinsic  and  exchangeable 
value  at  all  times,  possessing  equal  power  in  the  markets 
and  inpayment  of  debts." 

In  the  course  of  the  running  debate,  I  said  to  Mr. 
Teller,  "At  all  events  the  mining  states  have  a  customer, 
a  certain  customer  for  four  and  a  half  millions  of  ounces 
of  silver  every  month,  and  that  they  should  be  unwill- 
ing to  give  that  customer  up  I  can  understand.  The 
government  purchases,  I  suppose,  more  than  three- 
fourths  of  the  product  of  the  United  States.  I  heard 
the  very  eloquent  remarks  of  the  senator  from  Montana 
(Mr.  Power),  I  heard  him  speak  of  the  desolation  the 
refusal  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  buy  silver  pro- 
duced in  the  silver  states.  The  picture  is  an  exceed- 
ingly sorrowful  one.  No  man  feels  it  more  keenly  than 
I,  but  why  should  the  United  States  continue  to  buy  a 
product  for  which  it  has  no  use?  .  .  .  The  senator 
does  not  know  that  the  farmers  of  Illinois  and  Indiana 
under  circumstances  of  great  difficulty  went  into  those 
states,  and  bought  the  lands,  and  spent  years  of  hard 
work  preparing  their  lands  for  culture,  and  their  wheat 
this  year  is  worth  as  much  less  than  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion as  is  the  silver  of  Idaho  and  Montana.  Here  are 
these  commodities,  silver,  wheat  and  cotton,  and  each 
fluctuates  according  to  the  laws  that  govern  commerce. 
Neither  is  a  measure  of  value  of  the  other. 

"Wheat  and  cotton  during  all  this  time  did  not  make 


DEFENDS  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PLATFORM.  531 

the  price  of  silver,  and  silver  was  not  referred  to  to  as- 
certain the  price  of  those  products.  How  can  they  in- 
fluence each  other  as  neither  is  resorted  to  as  a  means 
of  determining  the  value  of  the  other,  is  to  me  incompre- 
hensible. ." 


532  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Argument  against  alteration  of  the  constitution  by  construction — Object 
to  the  seating  of  Mantle,  Beckwith  and  Allen. 

"Mr.  President — The  most  impressive  part  of  Wash- 
ington's farewell  address,  read  so  perfectly  from  your 
place  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  February,  was  the 
warning  of  Washington  against  the  danger  of  attempt- 
ing to  alter  the  constitution  by  construction.  He  re- 
minded his  countrymen  that  the  constitution  could  be 
amended,  and  thus  altered,  but  he  warned  them  against 
constructive  alterations.  Nothing  impressed  me  more 
than  those  solemn  words  of  the  father  of  his  country. 
I  am  impressed  with  that,  in  view  of  what  has  been  said 
by  the  senator  from  New  Hampshire  (Mr.  Chandler) . 

"As  I  understand  the  senator  he  admits  that  for  many 
years  after  the  formation  of  the  constitution  the  con- 
struction for  which  I  contend  was  the  received  con- 
struction. But  the  senator  has  discovered  that  the  con- 
stitutionm  ay  be  changed  by  construction.  The  fathers 
adopted  what  he  calls  a  narrow  and  illiberal  construction 
of  that  instrument.  He,  their  wiser  son,  has  found  an- 
other method,  better  than  that. 

"The  senator's  discovery  reminds  me  of  what  I  once 
heard  of  a  Calvinistic  preacher,  who  said,  'My  brethren, 
there  is  a  man  going  up  and  down  through  the  country 
teaching  that  all  men  will  be  saved.  Thank  God  !  We 
teach  better  things.'  That  is  an  illustration  of  the 
methods  of  the  senator.  This  illiberality  characterized 
the  authors  of  the  constitution  and  their  contemporaries, 
but  this  liberality  distinguishes  the  senator  from  New 
Hampshire  and  those  who  think  with  him.  I  prefer 
for  myself  to  be  treated  as  illiberal  with  those  who  won 
the  independence  of  his  country,  and  who  framed  the 
admirable  system  of  government  under  which  the 


ALTERATION  OF  CONSTITUTION  BY  CONSTRUCTION.  533 

United  States  has  extended  from  sea  to  sea  and  from 
the  lakes  to  the  gulf,  rather  than  the  new  light  vouch- 
safed us  by  the  distinguished  senator  from  New  Hamp- 
shire. The  senator  again  refers  to  the  fact  that  the 
senator  from  Oregon  (Mr.  Mitchell)  and  myself  desire 
to  alter  the  constitution  in  order  to  give  the  election  of 
senators  to  the  people. 

"Mr.  President,  I  do.  I  desire  to  alter  the  constitu- 
tion by  formal  provision  ;  to  change  it  deliberately  and 
solemnly,  because  I  believe  an  election  of  senators  by 
the  people  would  be  altogether  preferable  to  either  of  the 
modes  favored  by  the  senator.  But  I  seek  to  do  it  by 
formal,  constitutional  means  ;  I  seek  to  call  the  attention 
of  the  country  to  the  great  importance  of  this  change.  I 
have  sought  the  aid  of  congress  to  initiate  the  reform 
which  I  favored,  and  I  have  supposed,  and  still  suppose, 
the  time  will  soon  come  when  the  dangers  of  these  new 
lights  in  political  philosophy  will  compel  some  such 
thing  to  be  done,  not  only  in  that  particular  respect,  but 
possibly  in  some  others. 

'  'No  inconsistency  can  be  predicated  or  charged  against 
us,  because  while  the  constitution  exists  as  it  is,  we 
favor  adhering  to  it  rigidly.  It  will  be  found  that  the 
most  dangerous  class  of  politicians  are  those  who  believe 
and  teach  that  the  framework  of  the  government,  the 
constitution,  is  to  be  modified,  not  by  formal  action  in 
some  of  the  methods  prescribed  by  the  constitution,  but 
it  is  to  be  altered  by  new  constructions  to  meet  changed 
conditions,  real  or  imaginary,  I  ask  the  senate  to 
stand  by  the  constitution  as  it  is.  I  have  no  right  to  be 
liberal  in  construing  the  instrument  which  I  have  sworn 
to  support.  I  have  sworn  to  support  the  constitution  as 
it  is.  Neither  my  judgment  nor  my  conscience  will  al- 
low me  to  follow  the  senator  from  New  Hampshire  in 
the  new  path  which  he  has  marked  out  for  the  senate  to 
pursue. 

"I  am  exceedingly  anxious  to  confine  what  I  have  to 
say  to  the  very  question  before  the  senate.  It  is  an  im- 


534  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EAENEST  LIFE. 

portant  question.  The  senator  from  New  Hampshire 
indicates  a  purpose  to  give  to  this  instrument  a  new  con- 
struction. I  have  said  already  that  he  admits  that  the 
construction  of  the  constitution  first  recognized,  and 
afterwards  adhered  to  by  those  who  were  very  near  the 
time  of  its  adoption,  was  that  which  I  maintain  to-day. 
I  desire  very  much  that  the  construction  of  the  fathers 
shall  be  maintained  until  the  people  in  some  of  the 
modes  prescribed  by  the  constitution  shall  alter  it.  We 
shall  then  understand  what  the  alterations  are  and  we 
shall  obey  them,  because  it  will  be  our  duty  to  do  so. 

"In  pursuance  of  that  disposition  to  be  accurate,  I 
shall  endeavor  to  state  in  a  correct  and  accurate  form 
the  real  question  before  the  senate. 

"Mr.  President,  the  question  presented  by  the  resolu- 
tion reported  by  a  majority  of  the  committee  on  privi- 
leges and  elections  is  one  of  very  great  importance,  as  it 
involves  a  construction  of  those  provisions  of  the  consti- 
tution which  relate  to  the  organization  of  this  body. 

"The  report  of  the  committee  asserts  that  under  the 
facts  to  be  hereafter  stated,  the  governors  of  the  states 
of  Montana,  Wyoming  and  Washington  had  the  consti- 
tutional power  to  appoint  senators  to  represent  those 
states  in  this  body. 

"The  facts  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Lee  Mantle,  which  is 
the  case  immediately  before  the  senate,  and  of  Mr.  Beck- 
with,  both  of  whom  are  asserted  by  the  committee  to 
have  a  right  to  seats  in  this  body,  are  identical. 

"The  legislatures  of  the  States  of  Montana  and  Wyo- 
ming convened  in  January,  1893,  in  pursuance  of  the 
constitutions  of  those  states.  The  members  of  the  legis- 
latures of  both  states  balloted  for  senators,  as  required 
by  the  act  of  congress  of  July  25,  1866,  and  on  March  3, 
1893,  adjourned  without  having  made  a  choice.  The 
terms  of  Mr.  Sanders,  the  late  senator  from  Montana, 
and  of  Mr.  Warren,  late  senator  from  Wyoming,  ex- 
pired on  March  3,  1893,  so  that  it  may  be  said  with  per- 
fect accuracy  that  the  sessions  of  the  legislatures  of  those 


ALTEKATION  OF  CONSTITUTION  BY  CONSTRUCTION.  535 

states  and  the  terms  of  Senators  Sanders  and  Warren  ex- 
pired at  the  same  moment. 

"The  case  of  Mr.  Allen,  who  claims  the  right  to  be 
seated  as  a  senator  from  the  State  of  Washington,  differs 
from  the  cases  of  Mr.  Mantle  and  Mr.  Beckwith  in  this 
respect  only,  that  the  term  of  Mr.  Allen,  who  was  the 
late  senator  from  Washington,  expired  on  March  3, 
1893,  and  the  legislature  of  that  state,  which  was  in 
session  some  time  before  March  3,  and  had  balloted  for 
a  senator  to  fill  the  term  which  commenced  on  March  4, 
1893,  continued  to  ballot  in  actual  session  until  March 
9th,  when  it  adjourned  without  having  made  a  choice. 
The  legislatures  of  each  of  the  states  of  Montana  and 
Wyoming  were  in  actual  session  for  one  or  more  months 
before  the  expiration  of  the  terms  of  Mr.  Sanders  and 
Mr.  Warren.  And  the  legislature  of  Washington  was 
in  session  for  a  month  or  more  before,  and  for  several 
days  after,  the  expiration  of  the  term  of  Mr.  Allen.  It 
was  the  duty  of  the  legislatures  of  those  states  to  elect  sen- 
ators for  the  term  commencing  on  March  4, 1893.  It  was 
in  their  power  to  do  so,  and  yet  they  have  failed  to  make 
such  elections.  After  the  adjournment  of  the  legislatures 
of  those  states,  the  governor  of  the  State  of  Montana  ap- 
pointed Mr.  Mantle  ;  the  governor  of  Wyoming  appointed 
Mr.  Beckwith,  and  the  governor  of  Washington  ap- 
pointed Mr.  Allen,  to  be  senators. 

"The  majority  of  the  committee  treat  the  cases  of  the 
claimants  from  Montana,  Wyoming  and  Washington  as 
alike  in  principle,  and  assert  the  right  of  all  to  be 
seated.  The  rights  of  these  gentlemen  to  seats  depend 
upon  the  authority  of  the  governors  of  their  respective 
states  to  appoint  them  senators  !  And  the  authority  of 
the  governors  to  appoint  them,  if  it  exists  at  all,  is  de- 
rived alone  from  the  constitution. 

"The  provisions  of  the  constitution,  which  relate  to 
the  organization  and  to  the  election  of  members  of 
the  senate,  are  so  brief  that  they  may  be  conveniently 
quoted.  Section  3  of  article  1  provides  that  'the  senate 


536  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed  of  two  senators 
from  each  state,  chosen  by  the  legislature  thereof  for 
six  years,  and  each  senator  shall  have  one  vote.  Im- 
mediately after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  consequence 
of  the  first  election  they  shall  be  divided  as  equally  as 
may  be  into  three  classes.  The  seats  of  the  senators  of 
the  first  class  shall  be  vacated  at  the  expiration  of  the 
second  year  ;  of  the  second  class,  at  the  expiration  of  the 
fourth  year,  and  of  the  third  class,  at  the  expiration  of 
the  sixth  year ;  so  that  one-third  may  be  chosen  every 
second  year,  and  if  vacancies  happen  by  resignation  or 
otherwise  during  the  recess  of  the  legislature  of  any 
state,  the  executive  thereof  may  make  temporary  ap- 
pointments until  the  next  meeting  of  the  legislature, 
which  shall  then  fill  such  vacancies.'  The  material  rele- 
vant portions  of  the  constitution  may  be  condensed  into 
this  form :  'The  senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
composed  of  two  senators  from  each  state,  chosen  by  the 
legislatures  thereof  for  six  years,  .  .  .  and  if  va- 
cancies happen  by  resignation  or  otherwise  during  the 
recess  of  the  legislature  of  any  state,  the  executive 
thereof  may  make  temporary  appointments  until  the 
next  meeting  of  the  legislature,  which  shall  then  fill  such 
vacancies.' 

"The  constitution  determines  that  senators  shall  be 
chosen  by  the  legislatures  of  the  states  for  a  term  of  six 
years.  The  power  of  electing  senators  is  conferred  upon 
the  legislature,  and  to  meet  the  possibility  that  va- 
cancies might  happen  from  resignation  or  like  causes, 
the  power  is  conferred  upon  the  governor  to  fill  vacan- 
cies thus  occurring. 

"It  is  not  easy  to  mistake  the  general  purpose  of  the 
framers  of  the  constitution.  It  was  contemplated  by 
the  framers  of  the  constitution  that  vacancies  might  oc- 
cur from  any  of  the  causes  that  could  be  anticipated, 
and  it  was  also  understood  that  the  legislatures  of  the 
states  would  not  be  in  continual  session,  and  there  was  a 
necessity  for  providing  for  the  filling  of  vacancies.  Upon 


ALTERATION  OF  CONSTITUTION  BY  CONSTRUCTION.   537 

observing  the  constitution  closely  and  carefully  it  will  be 
found  that  the  original  proposition,  which  came  from  a 
committee  of  that  body,  was  that  the  governors  of  the 
states  should  fill  vacancies  absolutely,  without  limitation. 
It  was  by  subsequent  amendment  determined  to  limit  the 
power  of  the  governors  of  states  to  make  appointment  of 
senators  to  be  exercised  on  particular  specified  contingen- 
cies ;  that  is,  the  governors  should  have  power  to  fill  va- 
cancies caused  by  resignation  or  from  any  similar  cause 
which  might  happen  at  a  time  when  the  legislature  was 
not  in  session.  A  careful  provision  was  made,  however, 
that  the  appointment  should  continue  until  the  meeting 
of  the  legislature. 

"So,  the  power  of  the  governor  to  appoint  was  con- 
sidered as  purely  exceptional,  not  as  original.  It  was 
not  supposed  in  the  original  scheme  that  the  power  was 
conferred  upon  the  governor  to  appoint  a  senator  orig- 
inally. The  theory  was,  that  the  vacancy  must  be  ac- 
cidental. The  death  or  resignation  are  given  as  some  of 
the  illustrations  of  the  cases  in  which  the  power  of  the 
governor  could  be  employed.  The  whole  theory  of  the 
constitution  was,  and  is,  that  the  power  of  election  was 
with  the  legislature,  and  the  contingent  power  of  fill- 
ing vacancies  was  vested  in  the  governor,  a  power  to  be 
vested  only  upon  the  happening  of  certain  contingencies, 
and  a  power  which  exhausted  itself  when  the  true  elec- 
toral body  met  in  actual  session. 

"The  constitution  determines  that  senators  shall  be 
chosen  by  the  legislatures  of  the  states  for  a  term  of 
six  years.  The  power  of  electing  senators  is  conferred 
upon  the  legislatures  in  the  most  absolute  and  exclusive 
terms,  but  it  was  foreseen  by  the  authors  of  the  consti- 
tution that  vacancies  might  occur  or  happen  during  the 
recess  of  the  legislature  of  a  state  at  a  time  when  the 
legislature,  not  being  in  session,  would  be  incapable 
of  filling  the  vacancy.  To  meet  the  contingency  the 
executive  of  a  state  was  empowered  to  make  temporary 
appointments  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  legislature, 


538  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

which  is  required  by  the  terms  of  the  constitution  to 
then  fill  such  vacancies.  The  committee  on  privileges 
and  elections  agree  that  under  the  constitution  the 
power  and  the  duty  of  the  legislatures  of  the  states  is 
primary,  and  that  of  the  governors  of  the  states  to  make 
temporary  appointments  to  fill  vacancies  in  the  senate  is 
contingent. 

"The  majority  of  the  committee  contend  that  the  co- 
existence of  but  two  facts  is  essential  to  the  existence  of 
the  power  of  the  governor  to  make  such  temporary  ap- 
pointments. The  first  of  these  facts  is,  that  there  shall 
exist  a  vacancy  in  the  representation  of  any  state  in  the 
senate ;  and,  secondly,  that  at  a  time  when  such  a 
vacancy  exists  the  legislature  of  such  state  is  not  in 
session.  At  any  time  upon  a  concurrence  of  these  two 
circumstances  the  power  of  a  governor  to  appoint  a 
senator  is  complete.  While  the  contention  of  the 
minority  is  that  in  order  to  the  existence  of  the  power 
of  a  governor  of  a  state  to  make  temporary  appoint- 
ments of  senators,  the  vacancy  to  be  filled  must  happen 
by  the  resignation  of  a  senator  or  otherwise  during  the 
recess  of  the  legislature  of  such  state,  and  that  the 
power  in  question  cannot  exist  in  the  governor  of  a  state 
to  fill  a  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  expiration  of  a  con- 
stitutional term.  The  majority  of  the  committee  profess 
to  have  discovered  that  the  leading  object  of  this  pro- 
vision of  the  constitution  is  to  keep  the  senate  at  all 
times  full.  It  is  asked  in  the  report :  'What  is  the 
great  and  leading  purpose  which  the  provision  now  un- 
der  consideration  was  designed  to  accomplish?  It  is 
that  the  senate  of  the  United  States  be  full,  always 
full ;  each  state  was  to  be  represented  there  by  two 
senators.' 

"In  order  to  secure  this  'great  and  leading  purpose' 
the  committee  inferentially  assert  this  purpose  is  to  be 
appealed  to  supply  all  omissions,  to  reconcile  all  in- 
consistencies, to  give  a  meaning  to  all  ambiguities,  and 
even  in  clear  cases  to  compel  a  construction  opposed 


ALTERATION  OF  CONSTITUTION  BY  CONSTRUCTION.  539 

sometimes  to  a  clear  meaning  of  particular  words  and 
phrases. 

"The  committee,  in  quoting  this  extreme  rule,  some- 
times applicable  to  the  construction  of  contrasts  between 
parties,  seem  to  have  forgotten  the  injunction  of  Judge 
Marshall,  which  they  quote,  'Never  forget  that  it  is  a 
constitution  we  are  construing,'  and  seem  furthermore 
to  have  disregarded  the  maxim  that  'the  best  rule  by 
which  to  arrive  at  the  meaning  and  intention  of  a  law 
is  to  abide  by  the  words  which  the  lawmaker  has  used,' 
and  that  other  rule  that  'words  in  a  statute  and  a  portion 
of  a  constitution  are  never  to  be  construed  as  unmeaning 
and  surplusage  if  a  construction  can  legitimately  be 
found  which  will  give  force  to  preserve  all  the  words  in 
the  act.' 

"The  end  interpretation  aims  at  is  to  find  out  the  in- 
tent of  the  statute  or  constitution,  as  the  case  may  be  ; 
to  clear  up  the  meaning  of  the  words  if  they  are  obscure  ; 
to  ascertain  their  sense  if  they  are  ambiguous,  and  to 
determine  their  design  where  the  words  express  it  im- 
perfectly. It  is  not  permitted  to  interpret  what  has  no 
need  of  interpretation.  "When  an  instrument  is  con- 
ceived in  clear  and  precise  terms,  when  the  sense  is 
manifest,  and  leads  to  nothing  absurd,  there  can  be  no 
reason  to  refuse  the  sense  which  the  words  naturally 
present ;  to  go  elsewhere  in  search  of  conjectures  in 
order  to  restrain  or  extend  the  words  of  an  instrument 
is  to  elude  it. 

"The  meaning  of  the  provisions  of  the  constitution 
under  consideration  can  be  determined  without  resorting 
to  the  violent  means  of  interpretation  quoted  with  appro- 
bation by  the  committee.  The  constitution  as  a  com- 
plete instrument  was  the  production  of  deputies  repre- 
senting sovereign,  but  united  states.  Its  purpose  was 
to  provide  a  common  government  for  the  United  States. 
In  execution  of  that  purpose  it  created  a  senate  to  consist 
of  two  senators  from  each  state,  to  be  elected  by  the  legis- 
latures of  the  states  for  a  term  of  six  years,  and  in  con- 


540  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

templation  of  possible  vacancies  provided :  'And  if 
vacancies  happen  during  the  recess  of  the  legislature 
of  any  state  the  executive  thereof  may  make  temporary 
appointments  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  legislature, 
which  shall  then  fill  such  vacancies.'  In  the  early  days 
of  the  Union  the  words  quoted  were  not  supposed  to 
be  ambiguous  in  their  meaning. 

"The  case  of  Kensey  Johns,  which  was  before  the  sen- 
ate, in  1794,  and  of  James  Lanman,  in  1825,  were  de- 
cided without  apparent  difficulty,  and  now  the  words  in 
question  may  be  readily  interpreted  by  the  employment 
and  application  of  well-established  rules  of  construction . 
The  admitted  object  of  the  language  is  to  provide  a 
means  for  filling  vacancies  which  may  happen  to  exist 
in  the  representation  of  any  state  in  the  senate.  To 
satisfy  the  terms  of  the  constitution  upon  the  power  of 
the  governor  to  appoint  a  senator  to  fill  a  vacancy,  it  is 
necessary  first  that  a  vacancy  shall  happen.  It  is  ad- 
mitted that  the  word  'happen'  has  a  very  wide  significa- 
tion. It  is  clear,  however,  that  while  other  words  may 
sometimes  be  employed  instead  of  the  word  'happen/ 
and  examples  will  occur  to  every  senator,  the  word 
'happen'  in  its  strict  sense  will  hardly  supply  the  mean- 
ing of  the  words  that  are  sometimes  substituted  for  it. 

"The  word  'happen'  exactly  expresses  the  construc- 
tion which  was  given  in  all  the  cases  up  to  1825.  No 
other  word  could  have  been  employed  that  would  have 
satisfied  the  construction  first  given  to  the  constitution 
by  the  senate.  The  minority  report  of  the  committee 
discusses  the  meaning  of  that  term  as  far  as  it  is  neces- 
sary to  do  so. 

"It  may  be  conceded,  too,  that  the  word  'occur'  is 
often  used  as  an  equivalent  for  'happen,'  and  that  there- 
fore no  conclusive  inference  as  to  the  intention  of  the 
framers  of  the  constitution  can  be  drawn  from  the  use  of 
the  word  'happen,'  alone.  The  exact  intention  of  a  de- 
liberative body  in  the  use  of  a  doubtful  meaning,  when 
other  means  fail,  can  often  be  determined  by  contrasting 


ALTERATION  OF  CONSTITUTION  BY  CONSTRUCTION.  541 

it  with  another  word  or  words  for  which  it  was  substi- 
tuted in  the  course  of  the  composition  of  a  statute  or  con- 
stitution, and  by  the  association  of  the  word  in  question 
with  words  which  precede  or  follow  it.  We  have  the 
debates  in  the  convention  which  framed  the  constitution, 
and  it  is  admissible  to  resort  to  those  debates  as  a  means 
of  ascertaining  the  intention  of  the  framers  of  the  consti- 
tution in  the  use  of  particular  words.  It  appears  that 
a  committee  of  the  convention,  known  as  the  committee 
on  detail,  recommend  a  clause  to  be  made  a  part  of  the 
constitution.  I  have  not  the  exact  words  before  me. 
The  recommendation  was  a  broad  one,  that  the  power  of 
filling  vacancies — I  quote  freely — shall  belong  to  the  ex- 
ecutives of  the  states  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  legis- 
latures. It  is  true,  as  has  been  said  already,  that  an  at- 
tempt was  made  to  strike  out  those  words  from  the  plan . 

"It  is  also  certain  that  the  words  suggested  by  the 
committee  were  not  satisfactory  to  the  convention.  It 
is  easy  to  be  seen  that  if  the  original  words  reported  by 
the  committee  of  detail  had  become  a  part  of  the  consti- 
tution, controversies  like  this  could  not  have  happened. 
'Vacancies  shall  be  filled  by  the  executives  of  states  un- 
til the  next  meeting  of  the  legislatures.'  I  repeat,  I 
quote  freely.  The  necessity  for  retaining  in  the  consti- 
tution power  to  fill  vacancies  was  recognized  to  the  ex- 
tent that  the  convention  refused  to  strike  out  those  words 
when  that  distinct  proposition  was  made.  But  the 
clause  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  convention,  and  the 
words  now  found  in  the  constitution  were  inserted  to 
give  exact  expression  to  the  intention  of  the  convention. 

"The  exact  words  selected  were  'if  vacancies  happen  by 
resignation,  or  otherwise.'  The  senator  from  Indiana 
(Mr.  Turpie)  attaches  much  importance  to  the  meaning 
of  the  word  'otherwise.'  The  senator's  proposition  is 
that  the  convention  was  unwilling  to  accept  as  a  part  of 
the  constitution  the  clause  which  provided  that  vacancies 
in  all  cases  shall  be  filled  by  the  governor  until  the  next 
meeting  of  the  legislature,  but  his  proposition  is  that  the 


542  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

word  'otherwise'  gives  to  the  clause  reported  greater 
significance  than  it  had  before  ;  that  is,  all  vacancies 
may  be  filled  by  the  governors  of  the  states.  Now  the 
modification  was,  'if  vacancies  happen  by  resignation,  or 
otherwise.' 

"The  senator  from  Indiana  argues  that  the  word 
'otherwise'  restores  to  the  original  proposition  the  broad 
comprehension  intended  by  the  authors  of  the  report, 
and  that  the  clause  is  now  to  be  read,  'if  vacancies 
happen  by  resignation  or  exist  from  any  other  cause,  the 
governor  may  fill  that  vacancy  until  the  next  meeting  of 
the  legislature  :*  that  is,  that  the  limitation  which  was 
intended  by  the  insertion  of  the  word  'resignation,'  was 
enlarged  and  made  as  broad  as  before  by  the  use  of  the 
word  'otherwise.'  So,  according  to  the  theory  of  the 
senator  from  Indiana,  and,  as  I  understand  it,  of  the  sen- 
ator from  New  Hampshire  (Mr.  Chandler) ,  the  governor 
may  fill  all  vacancies  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  legis- 
lature ;  that  the  word  'resignation'  is  without  meaning, 
as  'otherwise'  comprehends  all  that  was  meant  in  the 
proposition  contained  in  the  original  report. 

"The  senator  from  Massachusetts  ingeniously  suggests 
that  the  purpose  for  which  the  word  'resignation'  was  in- 
serted in  the  clause  was  not  to  limit  the  executive  power 
of  resignation.  He  tells  us  that  it  was  the  rule  in  En- 
gland, that  no  member  of  the  house  of  commons  could 
resign  or  vacate  his  seat  otherwise  than  by  the  accept- 
tance  of  an  employment  under  the  crown,  and  the  fa- 
miliar practice  of  the  house  of  commons  of  a  retiring 
member  accepting  the  stewardship  of  Chiltern  Hun- 
dreds, is  cited  to  illustrate  and  enforce  the  proposition 
the  senator  advances.  But  it  will  be  remembered  by 
those  who  have  taken  the  pains  to  examine  the  debates, 
that  there  is  no  allusion  in  any  of  the  debates  to  that 
fact.  It  is  nowhere  claimed  in  the  convention  that  the 
case  was  before  the  minds  of  the  frarners  of  the  consti- 
tution. 

"It  is  suggested  by  a  senator  on  my  right  (Mr.  Peffer) 


ALTERATION  OF  CONSTITUTION  BY  CONSTRUCTION.  543 

that  resignations  were  familiar  in  the  continental  con- 
grees,  and  the  American  doctrine  of  the  right  of  the  in- 
cumbent to  resign  his  place  was  not  questioned. 

"The  suggestion  therefore,  of  the  senator  from  Massa- 
chusetts has  the  merit  of  ingenuity,  but  it  has  no  foun- 
dation in  any  fact  or  expression  which  occurred  in  the 
course  of  the  debates  in  the  constitutional  convention. 
For  what  purpose,  then,  was  the  word  introduced?  Its 
natural  effect  is  to  limit  generality  of  the  words  reported 
by  the  committee  of  detail.  That  report  provided,  in 
substance,  that  the  executives  of  the  states  should  fill  all 
vacancies  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  legislature. 
That  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  convention.  It  was  not 
satisfied  that  the  governors  of  states  should  have  the 
power  to  fill  all  vacancies  that  might  occur,  and  words 
of  limitation  were  thought  to  be  necessary,  and  were  in- 
troduced into  the  clause.  The  words  of  limitation  are, 
'if  vacancies  happen  by  resignation,  or  otherwise.' 

"As  a  matter  of  fair  construction,  the  word  'resigna- 
tion' can  only  refer  to  the  vacation  of  an  office  by  one 
who  had  a  right  to  continue  to  occupy  it.  The  word 
was  introduced  into  the  constitution  for  a  purpose.  I 
maintain  that  it  was  introduced  as  a  word  of  limitation, 
and  the  senator  maintains  that  the  purpose  intended 
was  only  to  give  the  senator  incumbent  the  right  to  va- 
cate his  seat.  I  maintain  that  the  words  are  a  limita- 
tion on  the  power  of  the  governor  to  appoint  senators. 
The  other  proposition  is  that  the  words  only  mean  that 
the  senators  may  resign  their  seats  and  thus  create  a 
vacancy,  and  the  executive  of  the  state  may  fill  all  va- 
cancies which  may  happen  to  exist  during  a  recess  of  the 
legislature.  Is  it  not  much  more  reasonable  to  conclude 
that  the  amendments  proposed  to  the  original  draft  had 
a  more  definite  purpose?  The  legislature  of  states  are 
the  electors  of  senators.  I  think  I  may  fairly  assert  it 
was  undoubtedly  the  expectation  as  well  as  the  purpose 
of  the  framers  of  the  constitution  that  the  legislatures 
would  in  all  cases  elect  senators.  What  ground  could 


544  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

there  be  for  a  doubt  on  that  subject?  The  power  was 
conferred  upon  states  to  elect  senators  for  the  sake  of 
the  states.  It  was  the  right,  as  well  as  the  privilege,  the 
duty  as  well  as  the  advantage,  of  the  states  to  be  repre- 
sented in  the  United  States  senate.  Could  it  have  been 
anticipated  by  the  framers  of  the  constitution  that  the 
states  would  fail  to  exercise  the  privilege  of  being  repre- 
sented in  the  senate  of  the  United  States?  The  right  of 
states  to  representation  in  the  senate  was  deemed  so 
precious  that  it  was  provided  elsewhere  in  the  constitu- 
tion that  no  state  should  be  deprived  of  its  representa- 
tion in  the  senate  without  its  consent. 

"I  quote  these  provisions  of  the  constitution  freely. 
It  was  deemed  an  essential,  valuable,  precious  right  of 
representation.  It  never  could  have  been  thought  possi- 
ble that  the  states  of  the  Union  would  waive  a  right  so 
valuable  as  that  of  being  represented  in  the  United 
States  senate.  The  right  to  representation  in  connection 
with  taxation  was  the  cause  of  the  revolution.  Can  it  be 
supposed  that  the  convention  which  framed  the  con- 
stitution anticipated  the  possibility  that  the  states  would 
voluntarily  waive  this  most  valuable  right?  The  idea 
that  it  was  intended  to  provide  for  the  contingency  of  a 
legislature  disregarding  its  plain  duty  to  its  people  in 
electing  a  senator  could  not  possibly  occur  to  the  framers 
of  the  constitution.  The  senator  from  Indiana  says,  and 
truly  too,  I  think,  that  our  fathers  were  familiar  with  po- 
litical strifes,  as  we  are.  But  they  never  contemplated 
that  the  factions  of  a  state  would  consent  to  waive  the 
valuable  right  of  representation  in  the  national  senate. 
I  shall  not  trouble  the  senate  by  discussing  that  which 
the  senator  from  Oregon  (Mr.  Mitchell)  presented  so 
clearly  and  well. 

"It  cannot  be  presumed  that  the  convention  imagined, 
if  I  may  use  that  term  in  such  a  connection,  that  the 
legislatures  of  states  to  whom  the  election  of  senators 
was  confided  would  ever  fail  to  discharge  that  duty. 

"It  cannot  be  affirmed,  with  proper  respect  to  them, 


ALTERATION  OF  CONSTITUTION  BY  CONSTRUCTION.  545 

that  they  anticipated  such  a  condition  of  things  ;  that 
they  did  not  anticipate  such  a  condition  is  inferable 
from  the  fact  that  if  they  had,  they  would  have  inserted 
an  express  provision  in  the  constitution  to  meet  it.  It 
would  have  been  easy  to  have  provided  that  'when 
vacancies  shall  occur  by  a  failure  to  elect,  or  happen  by 
resignation  or  otherwise.'  I  take  it,  therefore,  that  this 
was  not  in  contemplation  or  it  would  have  been  pro- 
vided for. 

"Now,  I  return  to  the  original  proposition,  'if  vacan- 
cies happen  by  resignation.'  If  it  had  been  anticipated 
that  a  vacancy  could  exist  by  a  failure  to  elect,  the 
natural  order  of  that  statement  would  have  been  that 
the  failure  to  elect  would  have  been  provided  for,  and 
it  would  have  preceded  the  word  'resignation,'  as  in- 
cumbency must  precede  resignation. 

"The  term  'resignation'  was,  as  I  maintain,  intro- 
duced as  a  word  of  limitation.  It  was  proposed  that 
governors  should  fill  all  vacancies. 

"The  amendment  was  that  the  governors  might  fill 
some  vacancies,  and  an  attempt  is  made  to  describe  the 
vacancies  which  may  be  filled  by  a  governor.  'Resigna- 
tion' is  chosen  as  the  descriptive  word  indicating  the 
general  cause  of  the  vacancy. 

"The  senator  from  Indiana,  with  that  ingenuity  which 
characterizes  him,  and  to  the  exhibition  of  which  I 
always  listen  with  much  interest,  intimates  that  the  word 
'otherwise'  covers  all  vacancies,  all  cases,  all  other 
ways.  I  ask  him  if  it  was  intended  that  the  governors 
should  fill  all  vacancies,  why  were  the  words  reported  from 
the  committee  of  detail  rejected?  Why  were  any  other 
words  used?  If,  as  is  maintained,  the  governor  may 
fill  all  vacancies  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  legislature, 
why  were  the  words  of  limitation  used  ?  If  it  was  the  in- 
tention of  the  framers  of  the  constitution,  why  were  other 
words  employed? 

"The  ingenious  suggestion  of  the  senator  from  Mas- 


546  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

sachusetts  (Mr.  Hoar) ,  which  I  have  already  noticed, 
is  that  the  purpose  of  the  word  'resignation'  was  simply 
to  recognize  the  right  of  a  senator  to  resign.  If  it  was 
used  for  that  purpose  only,  then  it  has  the  merit,  I  say, 
of  extreme  ingenuity,  but  has  no  support  whatever  in 
the  debates  in  the  convention,  and  seems  to  be  unwar- 
ranted by  anything  under  any  custom  or  rule  which 
prevailed  in  this  country  at  any  time. 

"Upon  a  careful  inquiry  as  to  the  meaning  of  the 
word  'otherwise'  its  significance  is  not  always  clear.  In 
the  report  of  the  committee  this  subject  is  discussed 
with  clearness  and  ample  learning.  I  will  not  ask  the 
senate  to  listen  to  me  while  I  continue  a  discussion 
which  seems  to  me  to  have  been  there  exhausted.  Evi- 
dently from  the  fact  that  that  is  the  word  chosen  after 
'resignation,'  it  contemplates  causes  resembling  resig- 
nation, according  to  very  well  understood  rules  of  inter- 
pretation. 

"  'Otherwise,'  if  interpreted  as  the  senators  on  the 
other  side  interpret  it,  rendered  an  amendment  to  the 
report  of  the  committee  of  detail  entirely  unnecessary. 
As  I  said  before,  it  simply  restored  the  original  words 
reported  by  the  committee,  and  with  a  sort  of  grant  of 
power  to  an  incumbent  to  resign.  That  would  seem  to 
be  the  whole  effect  of  the  proposition  according  to  the 
arguments  on  the  other  side. 

"The  term  'otherwise'  admits  of  very  free  interpreta- 
tion. It  may  mean  'in  any  other  way.'  It  may  mean 
in  connection  with  the  word  'resignation,'  or  'any  like 
case.'  The  senator  from  Indiana  wastes  some  time,  I 
think,  in  combating  that  view  when  he  asserts  that  a 
vacancy  occasioned  by  resignation  and  one  caused  by 
death  or  expulsion  are  alike  in  their  results  and  in  their 
incidents. 

"In  order  to  find  the  meaning  of  the  term  'resigna- 
tion' we  must  find  that  one  has  been  in  possession  of  an 
office  or  thing  and  that  he  has  yielded  it  up  so  that  that 
place  which  was  full  is  now  vacant.  In  the  case  of 


ALTERATION  OF  CONSTITUTION  BY  CONSTRUCTION.    547 

expulsion  the  office  was  full,  but  made  vacant ;  and  in 
the  case  of  resignation  the  vacancy  happened  by  volun- 
tary act  of  the  incumbent.  In  the  one  of  expulsion  it 
happened  by  the  act  of  the  body  which  had  the  right  of 
expulsion.  Other  illustrations  might  be  found.  While 
these  vacancies,  originating  from  different  causes,  may 
be  unlike  in  the  cause,  they  are  alike  in  the  results. 
An  office  is  full ;  an  office  happens  to  be  vacated.  Kesig- 
nation  is  given  as  one  of  the  examples  of  an  office  once 
full,  but  which  has  become  vacant.  Illustrations  might 
be  multiplied  showing  that,  while  the  senator  from  In- 
diana is  largely  our  creditor  for  ingenuity,  he  seems  to 
have  failed  to  perceive  that  the  vacancy  is  the  thing  to 
be  considered ;  and  that  is  the  result  of  any  one  of  a 
number  of  different  causes  which  produce  the  result, 
'otherwise'  being  the  term  which  comprehends  all  simi- 
lar cases. 

"Mr.  Gray.     Classified  with  reference  to  that  result. 

"Mr.  Palmel*.  As  is  suggested  by  the  senator  on  my 
left,  classified  with  reference  to  that  result,  the  result 
being  a  vacancy  in  an  office  once  filled.  I  attach  much 
consequence  to  the  alterations  in  these  phrases  employed 
in  the  progress  of  the  debates  in  the  convention.  The 
first  idea  was  that  constitution  should  confer  upon  gov- 
ernors of  states  power  to  fill  all  vacancies,  however 
they  might  happen  or  from  whatever  cause  they  might 
result,  and  that  would  satisfy  the  senator  from  New 
Hampshire,  who  has  presented  us  an  argument  this 
morning  to  support  the  equal  dignity  of  a  governor  of  a 
state  with  the  legislature  of  that  state.  I  may  reply  to 
the  senator  by  saying  that  I  am  not  called  upon  to  de- 
termine the  relative  dignity  of  the  executive  and  legis- 
lative departments  of  states. 

"The  inquiry  is,  what  was  the  intention  of  the  framers 
of  the  constitution?  In  order  to  ascertain  that  intention 
we  must  resort  first  to  the  words.  We  are  at  liberty  to 
look  to  the  process  by  which  the  ultimate  result  was 
reached  ;  we  are  permitted  to  consult  contemporary  his- 


548  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

tory,  and  we  are  at  liberty  to  resort  to  contemporaneous 
practice. 

"Permit  me  to  show  a  rule  I  think  the  senator  from 
Massachusetts  will  recognize  as  one  of  universal  accept- 
ance, that  in  the  construction  of  a  law,  and  necessarily 
of  a  constitution,  it  cannot  be  presumed  that  the  legis- 
lature or  the  constitutional  convention  employed  any 
words  without  meaning.  In  construction,  a  meaning 
must  be  found  for  every  word,  unless  it  is  clear  that  no 
construction  can  be  found  which  would  not  be  absurd. 

"It  is  a  modification  of  the  rule  that  the  intention 
must  govern  in  the  construction  of  constitutions  and 
statutes.  Now,  why  were  those  words  introduced? 
What  was  intended?  If  the  senator  from  Massachusetts 
was  correct  in  his  theory,  the  word  'resignation'  is  a 
useless  one,  serving  as  the  mere  resting  point  for  the 
word  'otherwise.'  'If  vacancy  shall  happen,'  I  render 
freely,  the  governor  shall  make  temporary  appointments 
until  the  next  meeting  of  the  legislature.  If  that  had 
been  the  clause  of  the  constitution,  the  word  'happen' 
might  be  accepted  in  the  broad  meaning  claimed  for  it 
by  the  senator  from  Massachusetts,  it  being  the  same  as 
the  word  'occur,'  or  even  the  word  'exist.'  If  vacancies 
exist,  the  governor  may  fill  that  vacancy  until  the  next 
meeting  of  the  legislature.  What  is  the  case  of  the 
senator  from  Washington,  Mr.  Allen?  In  that  case  the 
vacancy  occurred  while  the  legislature  was  in  session, 
and  in  order  to  get  rid  of  that  difficulty  the  senator  must 
get  rid  of  the  words  'during  the  recess  of  the  legisla- 
ture.' The  ingenious  senator  from  New  Hampshire 
would  not  have  the  least  difficulty  in  holding  that  mod- 
ern learning  and  skill  are  quite  equal  to  the  task  of  even 
getting  rid  of  the  phrase,  'if  the  vacancy  shall  happen 
during  the  recess  of  the  legislature,  the  governor  may 
make  a  temporary  appointment.'  In  this  case  the  va- 
cancy happened  while  the  legislature  was  in  session,  and 
the  legislature  continued  in  session  for  nearly  a  week 
from  the  third,  until,  I  believe,  the  ninth  day  of  March, 


ALTERATION  OF  CONSTITUTION  BY  CONSTRUCTION.    549 

1893.  There  the  vacancy  did  not  happen  during  the  re- 
cess of  the  legislature.  Undoubtedly,  under  the  rules 
of  free  and  liberal  interpretation,  some  method  will  be 
found  to  show  authority  for  the  governor  to  appoint  Mr. 
Allen  as  his  own  successor. 

"Going  back  again,  I  have  said,  and  I  repeat,  that  in 
the  progress  of  these  investigations,  we  are  to  conclude 
that  every  word  had  some  meaning,  not  necessarily  an 
exact  meaning  according  to  the  best  authorities,  but  it 
must  be  implied  in  some  sense,  perhaps  a  better  sense, 
as  the  term  is  understood  by  the  people.  I  understand 
no  rule  is  better  settled  than  that,  unless  phrases  are 
technical,  we  are  to  look  to  the  language  of  the  country 
in  order  to  interpret  written  or  printed  instruments, 
whether  constitutions  or  contracts.  It  is  also  to  be  sup- 
posed that,  while  we  are  giving  the  interpretation  to 
words,  we  can  reject  none.  'If  vacancies  happen.'  . 
.  Going  back  to  the  line  I  was  pursuing,  however, 
in  rather  a  desultory  way,  I  want  to  remark,  and  some- 
what in  continuation,  that  the  terms  employed  in  this 
instrument  evidently  contemplate,  on  even  Mr.  Madison's 
suggestion,  that  these  words  would  authorize  resigna- 
tion. They  were  at  the  same  time  words  of  limitation 
on  the  power  of  the  governor.  They  were  to  operate  by 
way  of  limitation,  and  also  to  operate  by  words  as  ex- 
amples, and  in  connection  with  the  word  'happen,' 
which,  as  I  have  said  before,  perfectly  represents  the 
idea  of  possibility  or  accident,  and  does  not  perfectly 
represent  an  occurrence  which  comes  by  course  of  na- 
ture or  by  operation  of  law— one  that  may  be  foreseen. 

"It  is,  therefore,  much  safer  as  a  matter  of  construc- 
tion to  accept  a  word  which  has  a  distinct  signification, 
without  being  ingenious,  to  find  that  the  same  word  may 
have  other  meanings. 

"The  example  was  resignation,  and  the  word  'hap- 
pen' was  also  introduced.  The  word  'happen'  does  not 
exist  in  the  original  draft  of  the  committee  of  detail ;  the 
word  'happen'  was  imported  into  the  amendment,  as 


550  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

well  as  the  word  'resignation.'  The  whole  clause  is 
coupled  with  this  word  contingency,  which  perfectly 
satisfies  the  purpose  of  the  senators  on  the  other  side. 

"Now,  Mr.  President,  being  about  to  conclude  what 
I  have  say  on  this  subject,  I  beg  to  state  that  this  is 
one  of  the  most  solemn  occasions  which  has  occurred  in 
the  senate  since  I  have  had  the  honor  of  being  a  member 
of  this  body.  We  are  discussing  questions  that  go  to 
its  very  organization,  and  it  is  proposed  to  extend  the 
constitution  so  as  to  remove  the  choice  of  senators  still  fur- 
ther from  the  primary  source  of  all  political  power — the 
people.  By  way  of  compromise,  perhaps,  it  was  suggested 
in  convention  by  some  persons  that  the  power  of  appoint- 
ing senators  might  be  conferred  upon  the  executives  of 
the  states.  On  the  other  hand,  the  claim  was  made  that 
the  power  of  electing  senators  should  be  brought  as  near 
the  people  as  possible.  The  compromise  was  found  in 
vesting  the  choice  of  senators  in  the  legislature  of  the 
states,  and  the  qualifications  of  the  electors  of  the  legis- 
latures were  left  undefined,  in  order  that  the  power 
might  be  as  near  the  people  as  possible. 

"Instead,  therefore,  of  characterizing  the  construction 
for  which  gentlemen  on  the  other  side  contend  as  being 
beneficial,  it  is  the  reverse.  It  is  subversive.  It  is  in- 
timated in  the  report  of  the  committee  that  it  was  pro- 
posed to  give  this  power  to  the  governors  alone.  That 
is  true,  but  the  prevailing  sentiment  was  to  place  the 
power  as  near  to  the  people  as  possible.  This  proposi- 
sition  will  confer  ultimately  on  the  governors  of  the 
states  the  power  to  appoint  senators  much  more  exten- 
sively than  is  claimed,  now,  because  you  observe  how 
it  has  gone  on  step  by  step. 

"In  1794,  in  the  case  of  Johns,  according  to  the  admis- 
sion of  the  senator  from  New  Hampshire,  it  was  agreed 
that  the  power  of  the  governor  to  appoint  could  not  be 
exercised  in  cases  like  these. 

"In  the  cases  from  New  Hampshire  another  step  was 
taken  in  the  direction  of  increasing  the  mere  uncon- 


ALTERATION  OF  CONSTITUTION  BY  CONSTRUCTION.   551 

trolled  power  of  the  governor.  That  was  another  step 
in  the  direction  of  giving  the  power  to  the  governors  to 
appoint  senators.  If  this  line  of  construction  is  pursued, 
when  gentlemen  reject  clauses  in  the  constitution  in  or- 
der to  attain  liberal  results,  the  time  is  not  distant 
when  the  powers  of  the  legislature  to  elect  will  be  very 
largely  abridged,  and  the  day  is  not  distant  when  there 
will  be  combinations  in  the  states  to  defeat  the  choice 
of  senators  by  the  legislatures  so  as  to  insure  appoi^t- 
ments  by  the  governors.  The  process  is  an  easy  one. 

We  have  the  remarkable  example  of  three  states  now 
with  senators  appointed  by  the  governors  knocking  at 
these  doors.  The  legislatures  have  been  in  session. 
Every  man  of  them  was  under  the  obligation  of  a  sol- 
emn oath  to  obey  the  requirement  to  elect  a  senator  as 
the  representative  of  his  state  and  its  people.  They 
failed  to  do  so.  From  what  consideration?  Senators 
say  they  could  not  elect.  I,  in  turn,  say  that  it  was 
their  duty  to  elect,  and  that  their  inability  was  a  ficti- 
tious inability,  imaginary,  pretended ;  that  it  was  not 
real.  The  spirit  of  faction  may  have  taken  control 
of  some  or  all  of  them,  but  there  is  reason  to  be 
lieve,  and  it  is  a  possible  conclusion,  that  certain  inter- 
ests preferred  that  the  governors  should  make  appoint- 
ments. 

"The  gentlemen  who  are  here,  so  far  as  I  know,  are 
blameless,  free  from  fault.  They  have  my  personal  re- 
spect ;  but  there  lies  the  danger,  and  step  by  step  we 
depart  from  the  pathway  of  the  fathers.  "We  become 
wise  in  our  own  conceit.  The  senator  from  New  Hamp- 
shire conceives  the  doctrine  of  liberal  interpretation 
which  would  change  the  government,  and  step  by  step 
our  institutions  are  subverted  by  this  spirit  of  change. 
No  man  can  forsee  the  result. 

"The  safe  course  is  to  restrict  the  power  of  governors 
to  the  exact  limits  of  the  constitution.  If  the  legislatures 
fail  to  elect  senators,  let  them  be  responsible  for  those 
who  elect  them.  You  afford  to  faithless  legislators  a 


552  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

means  of  escape  by  this  substitutionary  method  of  ap- 
pointing senators.  Gentlemen  talk  about  representation 
in  this  body  as  if  it  was  a  matter  of  such  transcendent 
consequence  that  anybody  might  appoint,  or  as  if  the 
origin  of  the  appointment  is  a  matter  of  comparatively 
small  consequence.  The  object  is,  we  are  told,  that  the 
senate  shall  be  full,  always  full.  It  is  not  so,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent. The  object  is  that  the  senate  shall  be  filled  with 
the  representatives  of  the  states,  representatives  selected 
by  the  agencies  to  which  the  election  has  been  confided 
by  the  constitution,  by  the  representatives  of  the  people, 
and  every  step  that  removes  from  the  legislature  a  sense 
of  its  responsibility  is  a  step  toward  the  subversion  of 
free  institutions. 

"If  the  people  of  Montana,  or  of  Washington,  or  of 
Wyoming  are  without  representation  in  this  body,  whose 
fault  is  it  ?  Have  not  their  legislatures  had  ample  power  to 
elect?  In  a  session  that  lasted  for  months  they  have  been 
'struggling,  they  tell  us,  over  an  election  for  senator,  and 
have  been  unable  to  elect.  What  was  the  ground  for 
that  inability?  Did  they  will  to  discharge  their  duty? 
Were  they  there  to  meet  their  obligations  to  their  con- 
stituents? No;  they  were  obeying  the  voice  of  faction, 
which  would  sacrifice  sometimes  free  institutions  for  the 
sake  of  mere  temporary  advantages.  They  have  failed 
to  discharge  their  duty.  What  is  the  remedy?  Gentle- 
men suggest  that  the  governor  of  a  state  shall  relieve 
them  of  all  responsibility  by  appointing  a  senator  for 
them.  Sir,  the  governors  of  those  states  (and  I  speak 
again  respectfully  of  these  gentlemen)  have  appointed 
as  senators  gentlemen  whom  the  legislatures  would  not 
elect. 

"They  did  not  elect  them.  They  had  the  opportunity 
to  elect  them  and  they  would  not  do  it.  The  effect  of 
this  is  to  relieve  these  recreant  members  of  the  legis- 
lature from  their  responsibility  to  the  people. 

"If  the  states  of  Washington,  Montana  and  Wyoming 
were  to  remain  without  representation  who  would  be  re- 


ALTERATION  OF  CONSTITUTION  BY  CONSTRUCTION.  553 

sponsible  for  it?  "Whom  would  the  people  hold  responsi- 
ble ?  They  would  visit  the  proper  punishment  upon  the 
faithless  men  who  disregarded  their  duty.  But  the  senate 
kindly  proposes  to  relieve  them  of  all  trouble.  The  men 
whose  duty  it  was  to  choose  a  senator  go  back  to  their 
constituents  and  say :  'The  governor  has  done  that 
which  we  ought  to  have  done,  and  the  senate  of  the 
United  States  has  held  that  where  the  legislature  of  a 
state  refuse  to  elect,  the  governor  shall  appoint. '  I  ask 
pardon ;  these  legislatures  have  not  used  the  word  're- 
fuse,' but  let  me  put  a  case.  Suppose  that  before  end- 
ing its  session  the  legislature  had  passed  this  resolution  : 
'Resolved,  that  we  will  not  elect  a  senator  to  the 
senate  of  the  United  States.'  What  would  the  senator 
from  Massachusetts  say  then?  To  be  logical  he  would 
say  :  'Let  the  governor  appoint  a  senator,'  forgetful  that 
the  convention  would  not  entrust  the  legislature  with  the 
discretion  to  refer  appointments  for  the  senate  to  whom 
they  pleased.  The  senator  has  the  book  before  him. 
They  would  not  entrust  the  legislature  with  that  power, 
yet  the  senator  maintains  a  doctrine  here  that  would  en- 
able the  legislature  to  abandon  its  duty  and  delegate  the 
power  of  election  to  a  governor  who  might  not  represent 
the  people.  ...  I  am  done  when  I  say  that  I  re- 
spect the  power  of  the  executive  of  the  states  and  I  claim 
for  them  all  the  powers  which  belong  to  their  office.  I 
had  the  honor  of  being  the  governor  of  a  state  once,  and 
I  surely  magnified  my  office.  I  never  allowed  its  honors 
to  be  trailed  in  the  dust.  I  employed  its  powers  in 
season  and  out  of  season,  whenever  its  dignity  was  in- 
vaded or  its  laws  violated ;  but  I  also  believe  that  the 
safety  of  the  people  of  this  country  depends  upon  a  rigid 
adherence  to  the  constitution  as  it  is. 

"In  the  great  struggle  which  commenced  in  1861  and 
ended  in  1865,  the  efforts  of  patriots  were  not  to  estab- 
lish a  new  government ;  it  was  to  maintain  the  dignity 
and  authority  of  the  constitution  as  it  is,  as  it  was,  as  it 
came  from  the  hands  of  the  fathers.  I  believe  it  my 


554  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

duty  now  to  stand  by  the  ancient  ways  and  to  resist 
these  innovations,  because  I  cannot  foresee  where  they 
will  end.  When  we  depart,  we  take  a  final  departure  ; 
we  break  loose  from  our  moorings  under  the  influence  of 
the  liberal  doctrines  of  the  senator  from  New  Hamp- 
shire, doctrines  which  have  no  other  merit  than  their 
liberality.  They  are  liberal  with  sacred  things.  It  is  a 
liberality  without  the  sanction  of  law,  conscience,  or 
right.  It  is  a  liberality  which  disregards  the  interests 
of  the  free  people  of  this  country  ;  it  disregards  popular 
liberty  as  defined  and  guaranteed  and  defended  by  the 
written  constitution  and  fair  and  honest  interpretation. 

"Mr.  President,  I  trust  this  question  will  be  settled 
definitely  on  this  vote.  It  is  a  great  occasion.  We  are 
making  a  government  by  enlarging  its  powers.  The 
power  of  construing  constitutions  is  in  fact  the  power 
to  make  them.  We  are  to-day  exercising  a  part  of  that 
power,  and  I  warn  the  senate  that  this  innovation,  this 
liberal  interpretation,  at  some  time  will  return  to  tor- 
ment the  inventors." 


LETTER  TO  MR.  CLEVELAND.  555 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Letter  to  Mr.  Isaac  H.  Webb— Letter  to  the  President. 

The  senate  was  still  engaged  in  the  discussion  of  the 
tariff  bill,  when  I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Isaac  H. 
Webb,  to  which  I  replied  as  follows  : 

"ISAAC  H.  WEBB,  ESQ.,  McLeansboro,  Illinois: 

"My  Dear  Sir — I  have  your  favor  of  June  18,  1894,  in 
which  you  inform  me  that  you  are  one  of  the  delegates 
to  the  Democratic  state  convention,  which  meets  in 
Springfield  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  this  month, 
and  ask  my  'opinion  upon  the  silver  question,'  which  you 
intimate  will  be  the  main  subject  for  contention  in  the 
convention,  and  ask  me  also  whether  I  favor  the  gold 
standard,  or  would  it  be  expedient  for  the  convention  to 
adopt  a  platform  favoring  bimetallism?  I  do  not  favor 
an  exclusive  gold  standard ;  but  before  answering  the 
other  questions  which  you  propound  to  me — which  I  will 
hereafter  do  categorically — I  beg  to  call  your  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  declarations  of  the  Democratic  state 
convention  of  Illinois  will  be  regarded  by  the  country 
as  of  very  great  importance.  The  nomination  of  Mr. 
Cleveland  by  the  controlling  vote  of  the  delegation  to 
the  national  convention  from  Illinois  reconstructed  the 
political  geography  of  the  United  States.  Before  that 
event,  which  was  accomplished  by  the  votes  of  Illinois, 
Wisconsin,  Indiana  and  other  states,  influenced  by  like 
views  of  political  policy,  it  was  believed  that  Democratic 
success  in  national  elections  depended,  and  would  always 
depend,  upon  the  ability  of  the  party  to  find  candidates 
satisfactory  to  New  York  and  two  or  three  contiguous 
states  and  the  'solid  South.' 

"Mr.  Cleveland  had  been  rejected  by  New  York,  and 


556  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

he  was  nominated,  not  only  as  a  tribute  to  his  integrity, 
patriotism  and  statesmanship,  but  as  a  protest  against 
New  York  domination,  and  his  subsequent  triumphant 
election  vindicated  the  wisdom  of  the  policy  pursued  by 
the  convention. 

"It  is  important  and  I  venture  to  express  the  hope 
that  the  convention  will  not  forget  that  Illinois,  from 
its  commanding  situation  and  its  immense  and  varied 
resources,  must  hereafter  be  an  influential  factor  in  the 
politics  of  the  United  States. 

"The  Democratic  party  of  Illinois,  therefore,  cannot 
consent  to  play  a  subordinate  part  in  the  politics  of  the 
country.  The  state  convention  ought  to  incorporate  in 
its  platform  principles  of  broad  nationality. 

It  cannot,  therefore,  I  think,  commit  itself  to  the  free 
coinage  of  silver  at  the  present  legal  ratio,  of  sixteen  of 
silver  to  one  of  gold.  That  policy,  if  successful,  would 
Mexicanize  American  coinage,  and  would  in  its  result 
amount  to  silver  mono-metallism,  and  be  an  abandonment 
of  the  safe  and  cautious  policy  of  the  present  Democratic 
administration  which  contemplates  the  adoption  of  every 
means  which  will  secure  to  the  country  the  bimetallism 
of  the  Chicago  platform.  Bimetallism  which  recognizes 
both  silver  and  gold  as  money  metals,  but  now  widely 
separated  in  commercial  value,  both  to  be  used,  how- 
ever under  conditions  which  will  make  the  'dollar  of 
equal  value  in  the  markets  and  in  the  payment  of  debts/ 
It  is  not  necessary  to  argue  in  support  of  that  which  is 
axiomatic,  that  the  money  which  is  cheapest  and  most 
easily  obtained  will  be  used,  and  will  displace  that 
which  is  more  highly  valued. 

"The  result,  therefore,  of  the  free  and  unlimited  coin- 
age of  silver  at  the  present  ratio  would  dwarf  the 
American  dollar  in  value  to  a  level  with  the  silver 
coinage  of  Mexico  and  the  South  American  states,  and 
would  produce  monetary  conditions  such  as  exist  in  the 
silver  countries. 

"And  it  would  also  be  to  decline  a  contest  with  Great 


LETTER  TO  MR.  CLEVELAND.  557 

Britain  and  the  continental  states  of  Europe  for  the  trade 
and  commerce  of  the  world.  The  silver  producing 
states  naturally  demand  the  free  coinage  of  silver,  they 
well  understand  that  it  would  result  in  silver  mono- 
metallism. 

"It  is  also  true  that  some  of  the  western  and  southern 
states,  discouraged  by  the  low  price  of  their  staples, 
eagerly  seek  cheap  money,  influenced  by  the  belief  that 
it  would  enhance  their  prices  and  promote  prosperity. 
The  democracy  of  Illinois  cannot  indulge  in  these  de- 
lusive expectations,  nor  yield  to  these  exceptional  de- 
mands, which  will  not  be  pressed  by  the  west  and  south 
when  prosperity  returns,  as  it  certainly  will,  to  the 
country.  The  democracy  of  Illinois  represent  the  bold, 
resolute,  self-reliant  conservatism  of  the  United  States. 
I  trust,  therefore,  that  the  state  convention  will  re- 
indorse  the  Chicago  platform,  which  'favors  the  use  of 
gold  and  silver  to  be  coined  upon  equal  terms,  the  dollar 
of  each  metal  to  be  of  equal  value  in  the  markets  and 
the  payment  of  debts.'  Mr.  Cleveland,  since  his  acces- 
sion to  the  presidency  has  exerted  himself  in  the  direc- 
tion indicated  by  the  platform,  and  will  continue  to  do 
so.  He,  like  every  thoughtful  man  in  this  country, 
knows  that  under  existing  conditions,  for  which  the 
Democratic  party  is  not  responsible,  the  bimetallism  of 
the  Chicago  platform  cannot  be  attained  without  great 
difficulty.  Republican  policies  tended  to  exhaust  the 
resources  of  the  country,  and  produced  the  deplorable 
conditions  apparent  on  every  hand.  Time  is  necessary 
in  order  to  the  restoration  of  public  prosperity,  and 
nothing  can  be  gained  in  that  direction  by  mere  em- 
pirical policies,  which  in  the  end  will  produce  far 
greater  mischiefs  than  those  from  which  we  now  suffer. 

"I  trust  the  state  convention  will  stand  by  the  well- 
established  and  well-approved  landmarks  so  often  ex- 
pressed in  our  party  platforms ;  that  it  will  not  be 
'stampeded,'  but  will  steadily  face  the  difficulties  of  the 
present  situation  of  the  country,  and  decline  all  in  vita- 


558  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

tions    to   make    the    party   responsible    for   the-  timid 
expedients  which  may  be  pressed  upon  it. 

Yours  very  truly,         JOHN  M.  PALMER." 

After  the  senate  and  the  country  had  learned  that  the 
president  was  dissatisfied  with  the  Wilson-Gorman  tariff 
bill,  which  had  passed  both  houses  of  congress,  but 
would  allow  it  to  become  a  law  without  his  signature, 
I  wrote  him  the  following  letter  : 

"UNITED  STATES  SENATE, 
"WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  August  23,  189 If. 

"To  THE  PRESIDENT — I  called  upon  you  to-day  with 
the  expectation  of  saying  to  you  what  I  now  write. 

"You  are  of  necessity  the  leader  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  you,  by  your  message  of  1887,  made  tariff 
reform  the  leading  issue,  and  by  that  means  reorganized 
the  Democratic  party. 

"The  present  tariff  bill  contains  all  that  your  true 
friends  in  congress  were  able  to  obtain  in  the  direction 
of  the  tariff  reform. 

"They  accepted  it  as  all  they  could  secure.  If  you, 
representing  the  tariff  reform  element,  should  conclude 
to  veto  the  bill,  they  can  defend  you,  and  themselves,  al- 
though, in  my  judgment,  sound  policy  dictates  that  the 
bill  should  become  a  law. 

"If  you  sign  the  bill,  you  thereby  retain  the  leader- 
ship of  the  Democratic  party.  The  party  can  defend 
you  and  itself  by  comparing  the  measure  with  the 
McKinley  bill ;  they  can  point  to  free  wool,  free  lumber 
and  the  large  reductions  upon  the  woolen,  cotton  and 
other  schedules,  and  to  the  abolition  of  the  sugar  bounty, 
as  substantial  gains  in  the  interest  of  the  people. 

"If  you  allow  the  bill  to  become  a  law  without  your 
signature,  you  abdicate  the  leadership  of  the  Democratic 
party  on  the  issue  that  made  you  president. 

"Mr.  President,  the  country  will  need  you  hereafter; 
the  senate  of  the  Fifty-Fourth  Congress  will  be  anti- 


LETTER  TO  MR.  CLEVELAND.  559 

Democratic,  as  will  the  house,  perhaps,  and  you  will 
need  all  the  support  possible,  in  order  to  enable  you  to 
resist  the  torrent  of  that  undefined  thing,  called  Popu- 
lism, which  already  threatens  constitutional  order. 

"You  must  remain  at  the  head  of  the  Democratic 
party.  To  allow  the  tariff  bill  to  become  a  law  with- 
out your  approval  would  be  to  separate  yourself  from 
your  party,  and  to  sulk  in  your  tent. 

Mr.  President,  the  commander  of  an  army,,  the  leader 
of  a  party,  must  alike  share  the  fortunes  of  their  fol- 
lowers. The  present  tariff  bill  is  a  Democratic  meas- 
ure. Thirty-five  members  of  the  senate  may  be  briefly 
said  to  agree  with  you  in  your  theories  of  tariff  reform. 

"We  were  compelled  to  accept  what  we  could  get  in 
that  direction,  and  we  secured  much.  To  refuse  to  sign 
the  bill,  if  you  intend  that  it  shall  become  a  law,  is  to 
separate  yourself  from  the  Democrats  in  congress,  and 
decline  to  share  their  responsibility  before  the  country. 

"I  write  this  paper  because  I  feel  the  necessity  of 
your  leadership  to  the  party.  I  have  no  personal  inter- 
est in  the  future  of  the  Democratic  party,  because,  at  the 
end  of  my  term  in  the  senate,  my  public  service  will 
be  ended.  You  have  many  years  before  you,  and  your 
power  to  be  useful  depends  upon  your  ability  to  preserve 
and  lead  the  Democratic  organization. 

"Yours,  with  respect,  JOHN  M.  PALMER." 


560  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Oration  delivered  at  the  dedication  of  Chickamauga  Park. 

The  following  oration  was  delivered  at  Snodgrass 
Hill,  on  September  19, 1895,  on  the  occasion  of  the  dedi- 
cation of  Chickamauga  Park : 

"MR.  PRESIDENT,  MY  COMRADES  AND  MY  COUNTRYMEN: 

"I  am  profoundly  sensible  of  the  honor  which  the  sec- 
retary of  war  conferred  by  selecting  me  to  represent 
the  soldiers  of  the  United  States  who  participated  in  the 
great  military  events  which  occurred  on  this  theater  in 
the  late  summer  and  autumn  of  1863. 

"When  I  recall  the  names  of  the  galaxy  of  distin- 
guished men  who  took  part  in  the  drama  which  has 
made  Chickamauga  immortal  in  national  history,  I  feel 
that  many  of  them  would  have  better  honored  this  oc- 
casion— but,  alas  !  where  are  they? 

Rosecrans,  the  central  figure  in  the  great  'campaign 
for  Chattanooga,'  is  now  on  the  genial  shore  of  the  Pa- 
cific, struggling  with  age  and  disease,  attended  by  a  lov- 
ing daughter,  and  the  prayers  and  good  wishes  of  all  the 
survivors  of  the  hosts  he  commanded. 

"George  H.  Thomas,  the  earnest,  disinterested  patriot, 
the  soldier,  the  'Rock  of  Chickamauga,'  sleeps  in  a  quiet 
cemetery  near  one  of  the  beautiful  cities  of  New  York. 
A  native  of  Virginia,  educated  by  the  United  States,  and 
one  of  the  officers  of  the  army  at  the  beginning  of  the 
armed  strife,  he  did  not  yield  to  the  sophistry  of  para- 
mount allegiance  to  the  state  of  his  birth,  which  deluded 
and  misled  so  many  others.  He  adhered  to  and  followed 
the  flag  of  his  country,  and  died  at  his  post  of  duty  in  Cali- 
fornia. No  nobler  man  lives,  and  none  nobler  has  died- 

"Crittenden,  always  generous,  brave  and  manly,  and 
Gordon  Granger,  who  so  distinguished  himself  on  this 


DEDICATION  OF  CHICKAMAUGA  PARK.  561 

field  on  September  20th,  have  passed  away,  and  McCook, 
alone,  of  the  corps  commanders,  survives. 

"Death  has  summoned  Brannan  of  the  '14th,'  Jeffer- 
son C.  Davis,  and  Philip  H.  Sheridan  of  the  '20th,' Van 
Cleve  of  the  '21st,'  and  Stedman  of  the  Reserve  Corps. 

"Of  the  brigade  commanders,  Lytle,  the  'soldier  poet' 
fell  September  20th;  Harker  and  Dan.  McCook  in  the 
assault  on  Kenesaw,  in  1864,  and  others,  equally  dis- 
tinguished, have  since  succumbed  to  age  and  disease, 
and  comparatively  few  survive  to  this  thirty-second 
anniversary  of  the  first  day  of  the  battle  of  Chicka- 
mauga. 

"It  may  be  that  I  owe  my  selection  for  this  honorable 
duty  to  my  seniority  in  rank  amongst  the  survivors  of 
that  day,  but  not  on  account  of  superior  merit,  for  where 
all  did  their  duty,  no  soldier  can  be  said  to  be  superior 
to  any  other. 

"I  feel  honored  too,  that  on  this  interesting  occasion 
I  am  associated  with  that  distinguished  soldier  and 
orator,  General  John  B.  Gordon,  who,  though  not  a  par- 
ticipant in  the  operations  here,  represented  the  Confeder- 
ate cause  gallantly  on  many  other  battle-fields,  and  has 
described  the  'last  days  of  the  Confederacy'  with  such 
force  and  eloquence  that  I  cannot  hope  to  equal  him. 

"My  comrades  and  my  countrymen,  I  will  attempt  to 
discharge  the  representative  duty  imposed  upon  me,  but 
in  view  of  the  great  difficulty  of  even  selecting  the  theme 
for  the  brief  address  which  I  am  to  deliver  here,  where 
so  many  memories  crowd  upon  me,  all  demanding 
utterance,  I  will  need  your  indulgence.  Where  shall  I 
begin? 

"Standing  in  this  presence,  upon  this  historic  ground, 
I  am  conscious  that  no  words  of  my  own  will  stir 
and  thrill  the  survivors  of  the  great  military  events 
which  thirty-two  years  ago  transpired  in  these  valleys, 
and  under  the  shadow  of  these  mountains,  as  will  the 
36 


562  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

mention  of  Chickamauga,  Chattanooga,  Lookout  Moun- 
tain and  Missionary  Ridge. 

"These  names  are  now  historically  significant  of  great 
battles,  where  many  thousands  of  brave  men,  of  the 
same  race  and  language  contended  with  each  other  for 
victory.  At  the  mention  of  them,  the  eyes  of  veterans, 
dimmed  by  age,  will  kindle,  and  for  the  moment  they 
will  forget  the  flight  of  time  and  the  lapse  of  years,  and 
in  imagination  again  plunge  into  the  heady  fight. 

"And  there  are  other  places  in  this  region  of  moun- 
tains and  valleys  which,  if  of  less  importance,  will, 
when  named,  rekindle  almost  extinct  recollections. 
'Crawfish  Springs,'  with  its  rushing  flood  of  crystal 
purity,  was  to  us  men  of  the  prairies,  where  nothing 
like  it  exists,  a  'thing  of  beauty.'  'Lee  and  Gordon's 
Mill,'  which  was  for  a  few  days  the  center  of  the  move- 
ments of  that  part  of  the  army  with  which  I  was  con- 
nected, and  where  I  spent  part  of  a  birthday  by  the  side 
of  a  wounded  comrade,  and  within  the  sound  of  a  skir- 
mish which  was  almost  a  battle  ;  'Peavine  Valley,'  where 
to  my  infinite  mortification  I  lost  nearly  a  company  of 
one  of  my  veteran  regiments,  captured  by  a  rush  of  Con- 
federate cavalry  ;  'Ringgold,'  the  scene  of  the  bloody  re- 
turn of  the  Confederate  rear  guard,  inflicted  upon  their 
pursuers  after  the  battle  of  Missionary  Ridge,  is  not  dis- 
tant— indeed,  there  is  scarcely  an  object  within  this 
theater  of  operations — streams,  bridges,  houses  and 
fields — which  is  not  suggestive  of  something  which  per- 
tains to  the  stirring,  eventful  period  which  we  have  as- 
sembled to  commemorate. 

"But  my  duty  requires  of  me  more  than  the  mention  ? 
of  the  names  of  these  places,  memorable  as  they  are,  for  | 
the  civil  war  in  the  United  States  in  its  origin,  its  pro- 
gress and  its  results,  is  full  of  lessons  to  us  and  the 
American  people. 

"At  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  revolution,  the  people 
of  the  American  colonies  were  a  nation.  They  were 
made  so  by  their  identity  of  race  and  language,  and  by 


DEDICATION  OF  CHICKAMAUGA  PARK.  563 

their  common  efforts  and  sacrifices  to  maintain  and  de- 
fend their  liberties.  The  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  the  most  perfect  product  of  human  wisdom,  in- 
spired by  the  most  exalted  patriotism,  created  a  govern- 
ment for  a  nation,  a  government  which  from  necessity  is 
supreme  within  its  appropriate  sphere.  The  statesmen 
of  that  day  were  divided  in  opinion.  Some  of  them  sup- 
posed that  the  constitution  gave  to  the  national  govern- 
ment powers  so  great  as  to  endanger  popular  liberty. 
Others  believed  that  the  powers  reserved  to  the  states 
endangered  national  unity.  Therefore,  disputes  as  to 
the  relative  rights  and  powers  of  the  national  govern- 
ment under  the  constitution  and  of  the  states,  com- 
menced soon  after  its  adoption.  Some  political  writers, 
in  both  sections  of  the  Union,  find  the  germs  of  secession 
and  of  rebellion  against  the  national  supremacy,  in  the 
Virginia  and  Kentucky  resolutions  of  1798,  while  others 
of  equal  respectability  and  authority  claim  that  the  reso- 
lutions of  1798  assert  no  more  than  the  right  of  the 
states,  while  adhering  to  the  states  to  defend  the  consti- 
tution, and  by  peaceful  and  orderly  methods,  resist  the 
palpable  infractions  of  its  provisions. 

"Again,  it  has  been  claimed  that  the  ordinance  of 
nullification  adopted  by  the  State  of  South  Carolina  be- 
gan the  controversy  which  finally  culminated  in  the  civil 
war.  While  on  the  other  hand,  the  supporters  of  nulli- 
fication asserted  that  the  South  Carolina  ordinance  har- 
monized with  the  proper  interpretation  of  the  constitu- 
tion and  tended  to  support  the  union  of  the  states,  and 
in  no  sense  involved  the  theory  of  secession.  Later, 
'the  South'  complained  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  which 
excluded  slavery  from  all  the  territories  of  the  United 
States  north  of  latitude  36°  30",  as  an  invasion  of  the 
rights  of  the  states  in  which  slavery  then  existed.  The 
North  complained  of  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise, which,  as  was  claimed,  invited  slavery  into  what 
are  now  the  magnificent  States  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska, 
and  into  other  territories,  some  of  which  have  since  that 


5G4  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

time  become  great  and  populous  states  of  the  American 
Union. 

"In  the  attempt  to  vindicate  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  some  distinguished  southern  leaders  in- 
sisted that  the  negro  slaves,  being  property  in  some  of 
the  states,  might  be  carried  into  the  territories,  which 
were  the  common  property  of  all  the  states.  While  on 
the  other  hand,  the  northern  people  maintained  that  ne- 
groes were  persons,  and  that  slavery  was  the  accident  of 
their  situation,  and  that  slavery  could  not  exist  in  the 
territories.  And  southern  leaders  went  still  further  in  the 
assertion  that  the  states,  being  sovereign  and  equal,  pos- 
sessed the  inherent  right  to  secede  from  the  Union,  and 
that  any  one  or  more  of  them  might  at  pleasure  establish 
an  independent  government  hostile  to  the  United  States. 
I  think  that  from  1856,  when  General  Fremont  was  the 
favorite  candidate  of  many  of  the  northern  states  for  the 
presidency,  until  1860,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was  named 
for  that  high  office,  a  majority  of  the  American  people 
regarded  all  the  disputed  claims  and  opposing  political 
propositions  asserted  by  the  rival  sections  as  mere  ab- 
stractions. 

"They  believed  that  slavery  would  perish  as  civiliza- 
tion advanced,  and  that  it  could  never  be  maintained  in 
the  purely  agricultural  regions  of  the  North  and  West. 
I  know  that,  with  inconsiderable  exceptions,  this  was 
the  feeling  of  the  people  of  all  the  states  north  of  the 
Ohio. 

"They  did  not  care  for  the  mere  sentimental  belief, 
cherished  by  so  many,  that  slavery  was  a  divine  institu- 
tion. They  were  satisfied  that  slavery  could  not  be  de- 
fended, and  they  hoped  to  witness  its  ultimate  extinction, 
It  did  not  alarm  them  that  many  were  committed  to  the 
dogma  of  the  right  of  any  state  to  secede  from  the 
Union  at  pleasure,  for  they  did  not  expect  or  anticipate 
any  overt  act  of  secession  or  disunion  from  any  quarter 
whatever. 

"In   1860,   Abraham   Lincoln,   of  Illinois,   was  nom- 


DEDICATION  OF  CHICKAMAUGA  PARK.  565 

mated,  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency.  For  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  the  United  States,  it  was  seriously 
asserted  in  certain  sections  that  the  election  of  a  partic- 
ular presidential  candidate  would  afford  sufficient  cause 
for  the  secession  of  the  states  interested  in  slavery  from 
the  Union. 

"This  declaration,  coming  from  the  quarters  it  did, 
excited  some  apprehension.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  regarded, 
not  only  by  his  political  friends,  but  by  his  opposers,  as 
a  safe,  conscientious,  constitutional  statesman.  His  sin- 
cerity and  integrity  had  never  been  questioned. 

"The  presidential  canvass  of  1860,  though  heated, 
was  conducted  in  the  usual  manner.  The  election  was 
fair  and  free.  The  electors  met  in  most  of  the  states 
and  cast  their  votes,  which  were  certified,  according  to 
the  constitutional  and  legal  forms,  and  the  votes  of  the 
electors  were  counted  in  the  presence  of  both  houses  of 
congress,  and  Vice-President  Breckinridge,  as  the  pre- 
siding officer  of  the  joint  session,  declared  that  'Abraham 
Lincoln,  of  Illinois,  having  received  the  votes  of  a  ma- 
jority of  the  electors  of  the  several  states  of  the  United 
States,  is  duly  elected  President  of  the  United  States 
for  the  term  of  four  years  from  the  fourth  of  March, 
1861.' 

"Soon  after  the  result  of  the  election  of  1860  was 
known  South  Carolina  in  form  seceded  from  the  Union, 
and  was  afterwards  followed  by  other  states,  and  the 
seceded  states  adopted  a  form  of  confederate  govern- 
ment. 

"I  spent  the  month  of  February,  1861,  in  Washington, 
and  mingled  extensively  with  public  men  from  all  parts  of 
the  United  States,  and  can  now  recollect  that  many  of 
them  professed  to  believe  that  the  controversy  between  the 
'adhering  and  seceding  states,' as  they  were  even  then 
termed,  would  be  speedily  and  peacefully  settled.  Some 
few  men  of  prominence  from  the  North  said  "the  revo- 
lution is  complete,'  and  advised  that  the  erring  sisters 
be  allowed  to  'go  in  peace.'  Others,  like  Mr.  Douglas, 


566  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

then  senator  from  Illinois,  and  Governor  Morehead  of 
Kentucky,  said  to  me  :  'The  peaceful  settlement  of  our 
troubles  is  impossible ;  the  Southern  leaders  have  gone 
too  far  to  recede,'  and  Mr.  Douglas  added:  'Before 
this  controversy  is  settled  the  continent  will  tremble 
under  the  tread  of  a  million  of  armed  men.'  And 
Governor  Morehead,  who  agreed  with  Mr.  Douglas, 
said :  'Misrepresentation  has  alienated  the  people  of 
the  North  and  South ;  they  have  challenged  each  other 
to  war,  and  in  that  war  slavery  will  cease  to  exist. 
They  will  fight  to  the  death,  and  after  a  bloody  contest 
they  will  learn  to  respect  each  other,  and  may  live  in 
peace.' 

"The  civil  war  according  to  that  view  was  a  struggle 
between  the  elements  of  American  manhood.  Political, 
economic  and  moral  considerations  may  have  impressed 
and  influenced  statesmen  and  philanthropists,  and  the 
like  considerations  affected  the  great  body  of  the  people, 
and  swept  them  into  opposing  political  parties,  and 
made  them  the  adherents  of  rival  governments.  The 
assault  upon  Fort  Sumter,  which  occurred  in  April, 
1861,  made  any  compromise  of  the  sectional  differences 
impossible  and  fully  justified  Mr.  Toombs,  secretary  of 
state  of  the  Confederate  government,  in  saying,  'The 
firing  upon  that  fort  will  inaugurate  a  civil  war  greater 
than  any  the  world  has  ever  seen.'  "Whatever  may 
have  been  hoped,  believed  or  feared  by  the  lovers  of 
peace  in  the  different  sections  of  the  Union  before  that 
time,  the  attack  upon  Fort  Sumter  rendered  a  civil  war 
inevitable.  After  that  event  Mr.  Lincoln  answered  the 
challenge  for  war  by  a  call  for  75,000  men.  At  that 
time  the  whole  South  was  practically  in  arms,  and  the 
call  for  75,000  men  was  within  a  month  responded  to  by 
the  northern  states  with  an  offer  of  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  million,  and  the  flame  of  war  extended  across  the 
continent. 

"I  need  not  speak  of  the  military  operations  of  the 
years  1861  and  '62,  nor  of  the  events  which  occurred 


DEDICATION  OF  CHICKAMAUGA  PARK.  567 

elsewhere  than  upon  the  theater  included  in  the  opera- 
tions of  the  armies  which  encountered  each  other  here. 

"The  first  days  of  the  year  1863  found  these  two 
armies  in  actual  collision  around  the  town  of  Murfrees- 
boro,  which  after  a  struggle  was  finally  held  by  Union 
forces,  the  Confederates  falling  back  to  the  line  of 
Tullahoma.  In  the  latter  part  of  June,  1863,  the  Union 
forces,  after  months  of  preparation,  broke  up  their 
camps  at  Murfreesboro  and  their  advanced  posts  in  that 
neighborhood,  and  were  put  in  motion  for  their  objective 
point — Chattanooga.  The  campaign  of  1863  has  been 
characterized  as  the  'campaign  for  Chattanooga.' 

"From  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  great  importance 
of  Chattanooga  from  a  military  point  of  view  was  well 
understood.  It  was  the  key  to  the  great,  populous  and 
wealthy  State  of  Georgia,  and  in  fact  to  the  whole 
South.  Its  position  was  one  of  great  strength.  Situ- 
ated on  the  Tennessee  river,  surrounded  by  mountains, 
it  is  difficult  to  approach  from  north  and  west.  During 
the  latter  part  of  June,  and  in  early  July,  the  Union 
and  Confederate  hosts  contested  the  line  of  Tullahoma, 
the  Confederates  afterwards  retiring  to  the  line  of  the  Ten- 
nessee river.  About  the  first  of  August,  1863,  the  whole 
Union  army  commenced  its  advance,  the  left  wing 
occupying  Sequatchie  Valley  pushed  forward  a  brigade 
to  Poe's  tavern  in  the  valley  of  the  Tennessee  to  watch 
Chattanooga,  and,  by  a  show  of  force,  to  threaten  that 
place  and  also  the  crossings  of  the  Tennessee  river. 

"In  the  meantime  Rosecrans  moved  his  center  and 
right  over  the  mountains  in  the  supposed  reported  direc- 
tion of  Rome,  in  order  to  reach  the  Confederate  rear, 
and  on  the  eighth  day  of  September,  in  consequence  of 
that  movement,  the  Confederates  evacuated  Chatta- 
nooga. 

"It  is  no  part  of  my  duty,  nor  is  it  my  purpose,  to 
criticise  the  strategy  of  the  commanders  of  the  two 
armies,  or  the  movements  of  troops,  or  the  conduct  of  the 
subordinates,  before,  during  or  after  the  two  days  battle 


568  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

of  Chickamauga.  I  do  not  know  what  General  Rose- 
crans  believed  General  Bragg  intended  by  the  evacua- 
tion of  Chattanooga.  I  know  that  on  the  morning  of 
the  9th  of  September  my  division,  which  was  posted  in 
Lookout  Valley,  was  ordered  to  follow  the  railroad 
around  the  point  of  Lookout  Mountain  and  enter  and 
occupy  Chattanooga. 

"That  order  was  changed,  and  at  my  request  General 
Crittenden  allowed  me  to  proceed  with  Van  Cleve's  divi- 
sion and  my  own  and  take  a  position  at  Rossville.  On 
the  morning  of  the  10th,  I  received  an  order  to  pursue 
the  enemy  in  the  direction  of  Ringgold.  I  reached 
Ringgold  on  the  llth  of  September,  and  was  there  over- 
taken by  General  Crittenden,  who  informed  me  that  it 
had  been  discovered  that  General  Bragg  had  retired 
from  Chattanooga  in  the  direction  of  Lafayette,  Ga.,  for 
the  obvious  purpose  of  watching  the  movements  of  our 
center  and  right,  protecting  his  lines  of  communication 
and  receiving  the  reinforcements  from  the  Army  of  Vir- 
ginia, which  were  then  on  their  way  to  join  him.  He 
told  me  that  Rosecrans  had  gone  hastily  to  join  Thomas 
and  McCook,  who  were  then  crossing  the  mountains, 
and  bring  them  to  confront  the  Confederates  in  Chicka- 
mauga valley,  and  fight  a  battle  for  the  possession  of 
Chattanooga. 

"When  General  Crittenden  gave  me  the  information  I 
have  before  mentioned,  he  ordered  me  to  march  from 
Ringgold  to  Lee  &  Gordon's  mill,  on  the  Chickamauga. 
I  was  more  apprehensive  of  the  advance  of  the  Confed- 
erates than  General  Crittenden  seemed  to  be,  for  I  had 
never  believed  that  General  Bragg  intended  to  abandon 
Chattanooga  without  striking  a  blow  for  its  possession. 
At  my  request,  he  allowed  me  to  move  from  Ringgold, 
with  the  fighting  force  of  my  division,  in  the  direction 
of  Pea  Vine  church,  to  feel  for  the  enemy,  while  the 
transportation,  protected  by  Van  Cleve's  division,  was 
moved  to  Lee  &  Gordon's  mill  by  the  most  direct  route. 

"I  marched  in  the  direction  I  have  indicated  a  few 


DEDICATION  OF  CHICKAMAUGA  PARK.  569 

miles,  and  encountered  in  the  neighborhood  of  Pea  Vine 
church  a  solid  Confederate  force,  and,  after  a  close  skir- 
mish, retired  and  crossed  the  Chickamauga,  so  that  by 
the  evening  of  the  12th  of  September  the  21st  Corps, 
with  the  exception  of  two  brigades,  were  in  position  on 
the  left  or  western  bank  of  the  Chickamauga.  From 
that  time  it  was  a  race  between  the  Union  center  and 
right  and  the  Confederates  for  a  battle  field.  Long- 
street,  from  Virginia,  was  approaching  with  some  thou- 
sands of  veteran  troops,  who  had  participated  in  the 
bloody  battles  of  Virginia,  had  crossed  the  Potomac  and 
had  fought  at  Gettysburg,  while  the  forces  under  the 
immediate  command  of  General  Bragg  were  moving 
steadily  upon  us,  and  on  the  17th  and  18th  had  made 
themselves  felt  at  the  different  crossings  of  the  Chicka- 
mauga above  Lee  &  Gordon's  mill,  while  the  14th  and 
20th  Corps  of  the  Union  army  were  hurrying  to  unite 
with  the  21st  Corps  and  resist  his  advance.  On  the  16th  I 
moved  with  my  division  up  to  Chickamauga,  defending  the 
crossings,  and  on  the  17th  the  advance  of  the  right  and 
center  began  to  arrive,  and  the  whole  army  commenced 
and  continued  its  movement  by  rapid  marches  to  the 
left.  I  remember  a  meeting  of  leading  officers  at  the 
headquarters  of  the  army  on  the  evening  of  the  18th  of 
September,  which  I  attended  for  a  few  moments,  called 
away  from  the  meeting  by  the  urgency  of  the  situation. 
Reports  were  received  from  all  directions.  The  advance 
of  Longstreet's  reinforcements  had,  as  we  were  in- 
formed, reached  Ringgold.  The  army  of  General  Bragg 
was  reported  to  be  nearly  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river,  moving  with  an  evident  purpose  of  crossing  and 
seizing  the  road  which  led  along  the  eastern  base  of 
Missionary  Ridge.  During  the  whole  of  the  night  of 
the  18th  of  September,  every  portion  of  the  federal 
army  was  in  motion.  My  own  division,  after  interrupt- 
ing delays,  reached  Lee  &  Gordon's  mill  about  sunrise, 
while  the  14th  Corps,  under  Thomas,  had,  by  a  more 
direct  route,  gained  a  position  at  McDaniel's  house,  near 


570  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  Chattanooga  road.  I  heard  firing  in  that  direction 
about  eight  o'clock,  and  directed  Gross  to  proceed  with 
his  brigade  and  learn  its  cause. 

"Time  is  important  in  all  military  operations.  If 
Longstreet  had  reached  Ringgold  a  day  earlier  and  had 
at  once  attempted  to  seize  the  road  to  Chattanooga, 
which  led  along  the  eastern  base  of  Missionary  Ridge,/ 
he  would  have  succeeded.  He  did  not  reach  the  field 
until  the  morning  of  the  20th,  when  too  late,  for  he 
found  the  Union  forces  in  a  position  prepared  to  re- 
ceive him.  Another  incident  may  be  mentioned  to  illus- 
trate the  same  fact.  Soon  after  Gross  had  marched  to 
ascertain  the  cause  of  the  firing  to  our  left,  I  received  a 
note  from  General  Thomas,  which  I  supposed  until  lately 
led  to  the  opening  of  the  real  battle  on  the  19th  of  Sep- 
tember, and  had  an  important  influence  upon  the  Con- 
federate movements.  I  quote  from  the  'Southern  Con- 
federacy,' a  newspaper  published  in  Atlanta,  of  date  of 
October  3,  1863,  which  came  into  my  hands  a  few  days 
after  it  was  published  :  'It  is  said  that  General  Bragg's 
plan  of  attack  was  designed  to  be  the  same  as  that  of 
General  Lee  on  Chickahominy,  viz :  A  movement  down 
the  left  bank  of  the  Chickamauga  by  a  column  which 
was  to  take  the  enemy  in  flank  and  drive  him  down  the 
river  to  the  west  ford  ;  or  crossing  below,  where  a  second 
column  was  to  cross  over  and  unite  with  the  first  in 
pushing  the  enemy  still  further  down  the  river  until  all 
the  bridges  and  fords  had  been  uncovered  and  our  entire 
army  passed  over.' 

"This  plan  was  frustrated,  according  to  report,  by  a 
counter  movement,  which  is  explained  in  the  following 
order  of  the  federal  general,  Thomas.  This  order  was 
found  upon  the  person  of  Adjutant-General  Muhleman, 
of  General  Palmer's  staff,  who  subsequently  fell  into 
our  hands : 

"HEADQUARTERS  14TH  ARMY  CORPS, 
"NEAR  MCDANIEL'S  HOUSE,  Sept.  19,  1863,  9  A.  M. 

"MAJOR-GENERAL  PALMER — The  Rebels  are  reported 


DEDICATION  OF  CHICKAMAUGA  PARK.  571 

in  quite  a  heavy  force  between  you  and  Alexander's  mill. 
If  you  advance  as  soon  as  possible  on  them  in  the  front, 
while  I  attack  them  in  flank,  I  think  we  can  use  them 
up.  Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"GEO.  H.  THOMAS,  Major-General  Commanding." 

"This  was  Saturday  morning ;  the  counter  attack  upon 
the  front  and  flank  of  the  flanking  column  was  made 
with  vigor  soon  after  it  crossed  the  river,  and  in  accord- 
ance with  the  plan  suggested  by  General  Thomas  ;  and, 
if  not  entirely  successful,  it  was  sufficiently  so  to  disar- 
range our  plans  and  delay  our  movements. 

"I  received  the  note  of  which  this  article  speaks  within 
half  an  hour  after  it  was  written,  made  the  attack  as 
soon  as  possible  and  gained  some  advantage,  but  did  not 
succeed  in  driving  them  back  across  the  river. 

"A  heavy  force  crossed  the  river  to  my  right,  which 
was  met  and  resisted  by  Van  Cleve  and  Wilder  and  the 
new  and  large  regiment,  the  75th  Indiana,  then  com- 
manded by  the  gallant  soldier,  Colonel  Milton  S.  Robin- 
son, afterward  promoted  by  his  fellow-citizens  to  a  high 
judicial  place,  which  he  left  vacant  by  his  untimely  and 
lamented  death. 

"It  is  certain  that  General  Bragg  had  not  anticipated 
the  movement  of  Thomas's  column  so  far  to  our  left,  nor 
the  attack  of  my  division  as  early  as  it  was  made,  on 
the  19th  of  September,  for,  in  the  orders  issued  by  him 
on  September  18,  1863,  he  directed  that  'Johnston's  col- 
umn, on  crossing  at  or  near  Reed's  bridge,  will  turn  to 
the  left  by  the  most  practicable  route  and  sweep  up  the 
Chickamauga  by  Lee  and  Gordon's  mill.'  It  was  this 
force  that  I  attacked,  and,  according  to  the  story  I  have 
read,  defeated  all  the  movements  of  Confederate  forces 
contemplated  by  that  order.  It  may  be  interesting,  too, 
to  mention  that,  at  the  close  of  the  first  day's  battle,  it 
was  certain  that  the  Union  forces  had  firm  possession  of 
the  Chattanooga  road.  The  second  day's  battle  com- 
menced between  eight  and  nine  o'clock  on  Sunday,  the 


572  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

20th  day  of  September,  by  an  attack  upon  Baird's  divis- 
ion, which  held  our  extreme  left,  and  soon  extended  to 
the  right,  covering  the  front  of  Johnston's  division  and 
my  own,  including  that  of  Reynolds  of  the  14th  Corps. 

"The  attack  was  made  with  wonderful  energy,  and 
was  resisted  obstinately.  It  was  repeated  more  than 
once,  and  was  finally  repulsed.  Men  and  officers  on  both 
sides  exhibited  the  highest  degree  of  courage. 

"An  attempt  was  made  by  the  Confederates  to  turn 
our  left,  but  they  were  driven  back,  and  from  that  time 
all  was  quiet  on  the  left  and  on  our  immediate  front. 

"The  country  is  familiar  with  the  closing  events  of 
the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  and  with  the  mistaken,  or 
misunderstood,  order  given  by  General  Rosecrans  to  Gen- 
eral Wood  :  'Close  up  on  Reynolds  and  support  him.' 
The  attempt  of  General  "Wood  to  execute  this  order  de- 
termined the  result  of  the  battle  of  Chickamauga — it 
opened  our  lines  to  an  adventurous  Confederate  attack. 
I  learned  within  a  few  moments,  from  the  progress  of 
the  Confederate  fire,  that  our  lines  were  broken ;  very 
soon  after,  I  saw  on  the  mountain  slope  the  advance  of 
the  Union  reserve,  led  by  Granger,  and  I  witnessed  their 
heroic  efforts  to  restore  the  fortunes  of  the  day. 

"I  ordered  Hazen,  with  his  brigade,  to  join  them,  and 
I  heard  their  volley  when  they  went  into  the  battle. 

"Afterwards,  under  the  orders  of  General  Thomas,  I 
retired  from  the  field.  With  all  my  comrades  on  that 
field,  I  felt,  and  I  now  feel  and  believe,  that  but  for  the 
unfortunate  order  given  by  Rosecrans  to  Wood,  or  the 
unfortunate  construction  given  by  Wood  to  that  order, 
in  regard  to  which  I  express  no  opinion,  the  Union 
forces  would  have  held  the  battle-field  of  Chickamauga. 
Certainly  men  never  fought  more  bravely,  or  even  des- 
perately than  did  the  men  of  both  the  armies  on  that 
bloody  and  well  contested  field. 

"From  data  which  I  regard  as  reliable,  but  which  I 
have  not  verified,  the  Confederate  army -which  took 


DEDICATION  OF  CHICKAMAUGA  PARK.  573 

part  in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga  amounted  to  sixty 
thousand  five  hundred  and  eighty-nine  men  ;  its  loss  was 
in  killed,' one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety; 
wounded,  eleven  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty-nine ; 
missing,  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty ;  while 
the  strength  of  the  Union  army  was  fifty -seven  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  forty  ;  and  its  loss  in  killed  was  one 
thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-six ;  wounded,  nine 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty-nine ;  missing,  four 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-four.  These  facts 
demonstrate  the  desperate  courage  of  the  opposing 
forces.  Two  armies  of  American  soldiers,  of  the  aggre- 
gate number  of  one  hundred  and  eighteen  thousand  four 
hundred  and  twenty-nine,  suffered  the  loss  of  three  thous- 
and four  hundred  and  forty-six  killed,  twenty  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  seven  wounded.  Without  counting 
the  missing,  the  casualties  of  the  two  armies  were  more 
than  twenty  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  engaged. 

"We  retired  from  the  field  defeated,  it  is  true,  but  we 
believed  our  reverse  was  the  result  of  one  of  those  un- 
avoidable accidents  against  which  no  courage  or  skill 
could  provide,  and  we  were  ready  on  the  next  day  to 
fight  again  with  all  the  courage  and  confidence  that  we 
felt  on  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  of  September. 

"We  retired  to  Chattanooga,  and  were  pursued  and 
beleagured  by  the  Confederates  until  November  25th, 
when  the  men  who  left  the  field  of  Chickamauga  de- 
feated on  September  20th,  stormed  Missionary  Ridge, 
and  fully  recovered  the  prestige  of  the  national  arms. 

"My  comrades  and  countrymen,  I  have  thus  told  the 
story  of  the  battle  of  Chickamauga.  It  is  brief,  and 
necessarily  incomplete.  Writers,  some  with  historical 
accuracy,  and  others,  in  the  language  of  romance,  have 
told  the  tale  of  that  bloody  contest.  No  man  can  know 
much  of  the  events  which  did  not  occur  in  his  immediate 
presence  on  a  field  like  this.  We  know  the  names  of 
but  few  of  the  fallen,  but  we  can  remember  the  courage 
and  gallantry  of  all  who  acted  with  us. 


574  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

"I  have  said  that  the  civil  war  was  caused  by  the 
sectional  challenge  to  American  manhood,  and  that  chal- 
lenge was  accepted,  and  followed  by  years  of  bloody  and 
desolating  war.  In  that  war  the  American  people 
learned  to  properly  estimate  each  other,  which  is  the 
only  foundation  for  harmonious,  national  unity.  By  that 
war,  the  theory  of  the  right  of  the  states  to  secede  from 
the  Union,  was  forever  eradicated  from  our  system  of 
national  constitutional  government.  By  that  war,  Af- 
rican slavery,  which  was  the  root  of  sectional  bitterness, 
and  was  one  of  the  causes  or  pretexts  for  national  con- 
troversy, was  forever  overthrown,  and  the  flag  of  our 
country  became  at  once  the  emblem  of  freedom  and  the 
symbol  of  national  power.  As  the  result  of  that  war, 
the  constitution  was  maintained,  and  not  subverted,  and 
the  Union  of  the  American  people  made  perpetual.  My 
comrades,  we  who  survive  to  this  day,  may  well  be 
grateful  to  that  Divine  Being  who  guides  the  destiny  of 
nations,  that  we  are  permitted  to  see  an  established 
Union ;  a  republic  extending  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific,  and  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf,  and  liberty 
and  law  the  all-pervading  rule  of  our  national  life. 

"We  are  here  to-day,  'with  malice  toward  none,  and 
charity  for  all ;'  we  meet  as  citizens  of  a  common 
country,  devoted  to  its  interests,  and  alike  ready  to 
maintain  its  honor,  wherever  or  however  assailed. 

"To  my  comrades,  you  who  were  Confederate  soldiers 
during  all  the  weary  struggle  of  the  civil  war,  I  beg  to 
say  that  I  was  proud  of  your  gallantry  and  courage.  I 
never  allowed  myself  to  forget  that  you  were  Americans, 
freely  offering  your  lives  in  the  defense  of  what  you  be- 
lieved to  be  your  rights  and  in  vindication  of  your  man- 
hood. 

"You  are  now  satisfied  that  the  result  of  the  civil  war 
established  the  unity  of  the  powerful  American  repub- 
lic ;  you  submitted  your  controversies  with  your  fellow- 
citizens,  to  the  arbitrament  of  the  battle-field,  and  you 


DEDICATION  OF  CHICKAMAUGA  PARK.  575 

accepted  the  result  with  a  sublime  fortitude  worthy  of 
all  praise,  and  your  reward  is  that  peace  and  order  are 
restored,  and  the  'South'  which  you  loved  so  well,  and 
for  which  you  fought  so  bravely,  now  blossoms  with 
abundant  blessings. 


576  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

Resolutions  and  acceptance  by  the  senate  of  the  statue  of  Pere  Mar- 
quette — My  speech  of  acceptance — Unveiling  of  the  Hancock  me- 
morial statue. 

On  April  29,  1896,  I  offered  the  following  resolutions 
at  the  suggestion  of  the  senators  from  Wisconsin : 

"Resolved,  by  the  senate  (the  house  of  representatives 
concurring  therein),  That  the  thanks  of  congress  be 
given  to  the  people  of  Wisconsin  for  the  statue  of  James 
Marquette,  the  renowned  missionary,  explorer  and  dis- 
coverer of  the  Mississippi  river. 

"Resolved,  That  the  statue  be  accepted,  to  remain  in 
the  National  Statuary  Hall,  and  that  a  copy  of  these 
resolutions,  signed  by  the  presiding  officers  of  the  senate 
and  house  of  representatives,  be  forwarded  to  his  excel- 
lency the  governor  of  the  State  of  Wisconsin." 

Following  which  resolutions  I  made  the  following  re- 
marks : 

"MR.  PRESIDENT — The  State  of  Wisconsin  has  selected 
and  presented  to  the  United  States,  to  be  placed  in  the 
'Hall  of  Heroes,'  the  statue  of  Jacques  (or  James)  Mar- 
quette. It  will,  when  accepted,  take  its  place  among 
the  marble  and  bronze  representations  of  the  great  men 
selected  by  the  states  as  their  ideals  of  lofty  characteris- 
tics and  noble  deeds.  No  state  has  chosen  better  than 
Wisconsin  in  selecting  Pere  Marquette  as  the  representa- 
tive of  courage,  resolution  and  devotion  to  the  elevation 
of  humanity. 

"Mr.  President,  mankind  honors  heroes,  and  the  his- 
tory of  our  race  in  all  ages  exhibits  the  universal  dispo- 
sition to  honor  names  ennobled  by  the  possession  and 
exhibition  of  great  qualities.  Eminent  soldiers  are 
oftenest  the  objects  of  popular  regard  and  adulation, 


PERE  MARQUETTE— HANCOCK  STATUE.  577 

and  it  is  to  great  commanders  we  are  ready  to  attribute 
highest  qualities. 

"The  public  grounds  of  this  magnificent  city  afford 
abundant  proof  of  the  truth  of  these  reflections,  for  in 
nearly  all  of  them  are  to  be  found  the  statues  of  soldiers 
who  have  won  distinction — Washington,  Lafayette, 
Green,  Jackson,  Scott,  and  leaders  who  distinguished 
themselves  at  later  periods.  Civil  fame  does  not  bear 
such  rich  and  generous  fruit,  though  the  qualities  which 
go  to  constitute  greatness  in  military  and  civil  life  are 
much  the  same. 

"Washington  and  Jefferson,  Jackson  and  Clay,  Grant 
and  Lincoln,  alike  possessed  great  sagacity,  exalted 
courage,  and,  what  is  more  impressive,  if  not  more  valu- 
able than  either,  unfaltering,  unflagging  resolution. 
Sagacity,  by  which  term  I  mean  to  include  extraordinary 
wisdom,  often  perceives  and  exaggerates  danger.  Cour- 
age is  sometimes  intermittent,  while  resolution,  when 
associated  with  the  qualities  I  have  mentioned,  utilizes 
both  and  gives  them  steadiness,  persistent  force,  and 
success  when  success  is  possible. 

"Lincoln  never  commanded  an  army  in  the  field,  but 
many  of  us  know  that  his  patient  resolution,  which 
checked  the  desperate  purposes  of  the  rash  and  extrava- 
gant and  supported  the  faltering  and  the  timid,  equaled 
Grant,  who  would  'fight  it  out  on  that  line  if  it  took  all 
summer.' 

"James  Marquette,  whose  history  is  brief,  was,  we 
are  informed,  born  in  1637,  one  hundred  years  before 
the  birth  of  our  Washington.  When  about  seventeen 
years  of  age,  he  joined  the  Jesuits,  evidently  from  mo- 
tives purely  religious,  and  in  1666  he  was  sent  to  the 
mission  of  Canada.  His  talent  as  a  linguist  must  have 
been  great,  for  within  a  few  years  he  learned  to  speak 
six  Indian  languages.  Parkman,  whom  I  follow,  says  : 
'A  subtle  element  of  romance  was  blended  with  the  fer- 
vor of  his  worship,  and  hung  like  an  illumined  cloud 
37 


578  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

over  the  harsh  and  hard  realities  of  his  daily  lot.  Kin- 
dled by  the  smile  of  his  celestial  mistress,  his  gentle 
and  noble  nature  knew  no  fear.  For  her  he  burned  to 
dare  and  to  suffer,  discover  new  lands  and  conquer  new 
realms  to  her  sway.' 

"In  the  journal  of  his  voyage,  after  referring  to  a 
particular  change  made  in  his  destination,  he  wrote  :  'I 
was  the  more  delighted  at  this  good  news,  because  I  saw 
my  plans  about  to  be  accomplished,  and  found  myself  in 
the  happy  necessity  of  exposing  my  life  for  the  elevation 
of  all  these  tribes,  and  especially  of  the  Illinois,  who, 
when  I  was  at  Point  St.  Esprit,  had  begged  me  to  bring 
the  Word  of  God  among  them.' 

"He  then  made  preparation  for  the  expedition  he  was 
about  to  undertake.  The  outfit  of  the  travelers  was 
very  simple.  They  provided  themselves  with  two  birch- 
bark  canoes  and  a  supply  of  smoked  meat  and  Indian 
corn,  embarked  with  five  men,  and  began  their  voyage 
on  May  17,  1673.  It  is  needless  to  describe  the  route  of 
the  adventurous  voyagers.  They  reached  the  Wiscon- 
sin ;  they  discovered  and  descended  the  Mississippi 
river,  passing  the  mouths  of  the  Illinois,  the  Missouri, 
the  Ohio  and  the  Arkansas.  Without  weapons  of  de- 
fense, they  visited  tribes  of  turbulent  and  ferocious  sav- 
ages, armed  only  with  the  sublime  doctrine  of  'peace  on 
earth,  goodwill  to  men.'  His  efforts  for  the  civilization 
of  the  savages  he  visited  proves  his  boundless  benevo- 
lence. 

"The  story  of  his  death  and  burial  by  the  shore  of 
Lake  Michigan  is  full  of  pathos.  'His  comrades, 
knowing  his  death  to  be  near,  built  a  shed  of  bark  for 
his  protection.  With  perfect  cheerfulness  and  com- 
posure he  gave  directions  for  his  burial.  ...  At 
night,  seeing  they  were  fatigued,  he  told  them  to  take  a 
rest,  saying  he  would  call  them  when  he  felt  his  time 
approaching.  Two  or  three  hours  after,  they  heard  a 
feeble  voice,  and  hastening  to  his  side  found  him  at  the 
point  of  death.  He  expired  calmly,  murmuring  the 


PERE  MARQUETTE— HANCOCK  STATUE.  579 

names  of  Jesus  and  Mary,  with  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the 
crucifix  which  one  of  his  followers  held  before  him.' 

"They  dug  a  grave  beside  the  hut,  and  there  buried 
him  according  to  the  directions  he  had  given.  Whether 
his  remains  rest  where  they  were  placed  by  the  hands  of 
his  comrades,  or  were  removed  to  St.  Ignace,  is  perhaps 
uncertain ;  but  whatever  may  be  true  in  that  respect, 
the  gentle  breezes  of  the  lake  sing  his  requiem,  and  we 
may  hope  that  a  spirit  so  pure  and  gentle,  and  yet  so 
brave  and  resolute,  rests  where  peace  aboundeth  for- 
ever. 

"Mr.  President,  Father  Marquette  was  a  priest — I  do 
not  hesitate  to  speak  of  him  by  that  respectful  title — was 
an  explorer  and  an  apostle  to  all  the  tribes  and  peoples 
he  might  discover.  He  combined  the  courage  and  reso- 
lution of  Paul  and  Judson  and  of  Brainerd,  with  the 
gentleness  of  John  and  the  humanity  of  Damien,  who 
gave  his  life  to  the  service  of  the  lepers.  He  had  more 
of  courage  and  resolution  than  a  soldier,  for  without  in- 
tending to  resist  the  dangers  he  might  encounter,  he 
met  the  threats  of  savages  without  fear,  inspired  with 
love  for  them  and  an  eager  desire  to  promote  their  tem- 
poral and  eternal  welfare. 

"Mr.  President  the  State  of  Wisconsin  has  selected 
this  marble  representation  of  this  remarkable  man  as  its 
contribution  to  the  Hall  of  Statuary,  The  selection  is 
one  worthy  to  be  made,  and  the  statue  of  Pere  Marquette 
will  stand  in  that  hall,  surrounded  by  other  statues  rep- 
resenting men  whose  names  will  not  die  or  be  forgotten 
while  respect  and  veneration  for  true  manhood  survive. 

"I  hope  it  will  not  degrade  or  even  lower  the  dignity 
of  this  occasion  if  I  should  say  that  I  do  not  assent  to 
Roman  Catholic  theories  of  ecclesiasticism,  but  I  would 
despise  myself  if  the  garb  of  a  priest  of  that  church 
could  hide  from  my  view  the  noble,  resolute,  devout 
Christian  hero  within." 

In  May,   1869,  by  request  of  the   secretary  of  war,  I 


580  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

delivered  the  oration  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Hancock 
Memorial  Statue,  Washington,  D.  C.,  May  12,  1896. 

"MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN — According  to  the 
terms  of  my  invitation,  I  am  to  deliver  a  'short  oration' 
in  connection  with  these  dedicatory  services. 

"When  I  accepted  this  invitation  I  promised  myself 
an  easy  task,  for  I  had  met  Lieutenant  Winfield  Scott 
Hancock  in  St.  Louis  more  than  forty  years  ago,  and 
was  then  impressed  by  his  soldierly  appearance  and  his 
pleasant,  genial  manners. 

"I  again  met  him  after  he  had  won  such  rare  distinc- 
tion, that  he  was  empowered  by  the  war  department  to 
raise  a  special  veteran  corps. 

"I  had  watched  his  course  during  the  civil  war  with 
profound  interest,  and  I  had  formed  the  most  favorable 
opinion  of  his  soldierly  qualities.  Influenced  by  con- 
siderations like  those  I  have  mentioned,  and  by  sincere 
reverence  for  the  memory  of  him  whose  statue  is  to  be 
unveiled  to-day,  I  accepted  the  duty.  It  has  been  no 
doubt  observed  by  others,  but  it  did  not  occur  to  me  at 
the  moment,  that  the  life  and  service  of  General  Hancock 
was  better  known  to  the  American  people  than  are  those 
of  any  other  of  the  great  soldiers  who  won  distinction 
during  the  civil  war. 

"So  much  has  been  written  and  spoken  of  his  great 
achievements  that  what  I  will  be  able  to  say  to-day,  will, 
I  fear,  sound  to  my  audience  like  an  imperfect  echo  of 
what  has  often  been  better  told. 

"The  domestic  and  social  phases  of  the  life  of  General 
Hancock  have  been  described  by  that  biographer  whose 
delightful  story  commences  at  the  time  she  became  his 
wife.  She  shared  much  of  his  barrack  and  tent  life. 
She  followed  the  sagacious  advice  of  Major,  afterwards 
General,  Robert  E.  Lee,  which  she  quotes,  and  accom- 
panied her  husband  to  California. 

"She  describes  the  main  incidents  of  their  voyage  and 
of  their  long  residence  upon  the  Pacific  coast.  She 


PERE  MARQUETTE— HANCOCK  STATUE.  581 

studied  the  character  of  her  husband,  and  with  intel- 
ligent, wifely  intuition  she  came  to  understand  him  as 
others  did  afterwards.  She  says  :  'He  understood  him- 
self. The  talents  and  acquirements  of  a  professor  at 
West  Point  did  not  belong  to  him.  He  required  broader 
fields  for  his  nervous,  energetic  character,  otherwise  his 
profession  would  have  become  irksome  and  profitless.' 

"So  much  of  his  correspondence  with  her  as  she  has 
given  to  the  world  shows  how  much  he  loved  and  con- 
fided in  her,  and  when  she  speaks  of  him  as  a  husband 
and  a  father  she  is  eloquent,  and  often  pathetic. 

"The  military  qualities  of  General  Hancock  are  well 
known  to  the  country.  The  story  of  his  brilliant  serv- 
ices has  been  told  in  detail  by  biographers,  but  General 
Grant  has  condensed  his  real  character  and  reputation 
in  a  few  sentences  :  'Hancock  stands  the  most  conspicuous 
figure  of  all  the  general  officers  who  did  not  exercise  a 
separate  command.  He  commanded  a  corps  longer  than 
any  other  one,  and  his  name  was  never  mentioned  as 
having  committed  in  battle  a  blunder  for  which  he  was 
responsible.  He  was  a  man  of  very  conspicuous  per- 
sonal appearance.  His  genial  disposition  made  him 
friends,  and  his  personal  courage  and  his  presence  with 
his  command  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight  won  for  him 
the  confidence  of  the  troops  serving  under  him.' 

"It  would  not  be  just  to  the  memory  of  the  dead  or  to 
the  well-founded  fame  of  the  surviving  officers  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  to  say  that  General  Hancock  ex- 
ceeded them  all  in  the  possession  of  high,  soldierly 
qualities.  He  commanded  brigades,  divisions  and  army 
corps  with  brilliant  success,  but  he  understood  himself 
so  well  that  he  never  aspired  to  the  command  of  that 
great  army.  'Know  thyself  is  one  of  the  wisest  and 
most  useful  of  all  of  the  proverbial  injunctions,  and 
General  Hancock  observed  and  obeyed  it. 

"I  have  already  mentioned  one  incident,  related  by 
Mrs.  Hancock,  which  illustrates  the  thoroughness  of  his 
self-knowledge.  He  knew  he  could  command  men. 


582  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

'His  personal  courage  and  his  presence  with  his  com- 
mand in  the  thickest  of  the  fight  won  for  him  the  con- 
fidence of  the  troops  serving  under  him.'  He  could 
command  men,  and,  in  addition,  had  a  quick  eye  for  a 
battlefield.  Both  these  strong  points  in  his  character 
are  established  by  the  story  of  his  appearance  in  the 
field  on  the  first  day  of  the  battle  of  Gettysburg.  One 
of  his  biographers  writes  :  'Beautiful  as  that  landscape 
appears  to  the  eye  of  the  peaceful  traveler  it  is  now  a 
scene  of  terror,  strewn  with  the  dead  and  dying  and 
with  the  wreck  of  battle.  More  painful  still  to  witness 
are  the  disorderly  groups  of  fugitives  hurrying  from  the 
field  or  skulking  behind  cover. 

"Down  the  Baltimore  road  to  the  rear  pours  a  stream 
of  panic-stricken  men,  mixed  up  with  led  horses,  artil- 
lery, ammunition  wagons  and  ambulances  loaded  with 
the  wounded. 

"In  front,  across  the  valley,  Seminary  Ridge,  on 
which  had  occurred  the  sanguinary  battle  of  the  morn- 
ing, is  bristling  with  the  battalions  and  batteries  of 
Hill's  corps  ;  while  Ewell,  having  seized  the  town  with 
his  right,  is  extending  his  left  to  grasp  Gulp's  Hill, 
from  which  he  would  command  the  road  to  Baltimore. 

"To  hold  Cemetery  Hill  thus  threatened  there  is  a 
single  brigade,  not  yet  engaged,  that  of  Colonel  Orlando 
Smith,  about  one  thousand  strong,  which  had  been  left 
in  reserve  when  Howard  went  forward  to  support 
Reynolds. 

"Here  and  there  remnants  of  other  brigades  have 
halted,  unwilling  to  retreat  farther,  surveying  with 
gloomy  apprehension  the  fast-gathering  masses  of  the 
Confederates. 

"To  the  left,  down  the  crest  of  Cemetery  Ridge,  the 
broken  bands  of  the  1st  Corps,  which  have  done  tran- 
scendent soldierly  service  during  the  long  hours  of 
the  day,  stand  firmly  in  their  place,  to  keep  their  posi- 
tion for  which  they  had  made  such  awful  sacrifices. 

"In  front  of  them,  and  still  further  to  the  left,  is  the 


PERE  MARQTJETTE— HANCOCK  STATUE.  583 

one  inspiring  feature  of  the  scene,  Buford's  splendid 
division  of  cavalry,  drawn  up  in  line  of  battalions,  en 
masse  unshaken  and  undaunted  in  the  face  of  Confederate 
infantry. 

"Upon  this  field  of  wreck  and  disorder  appears  Han- 
cock. 

"And,  as  the  sun  shining  through  a  rift  in  the  clouds 
may  change  a  scene  of  gloom  to  one  of  beauty,  so  the 
coming  of  this  prince  of  soldiers  brings  life  and  courage 
to  all. 

"At  this  call  the  braver  spirits  flamed  to  their  height ; 
the  weaker  souls  yield  gladly  to  the  impulse  of  that  pow- 
erful, aggressive,  resolute  nature. 

"At  once  the  doubtful  halt  on  Cemetery  Hill  is  trans- 
formed into  the  confident  assumption  of  a  new  line  of 
battle ;  the  fearful  stream  adown  the  Baltimore  road  is 
peremptorily  stopped ;  shattered  regiments,  as  they 
reach  the  hill,  are  reformed ;  on  every  side  men  seek 
their  colors  with  alacrity ;  commanders  rectify  their 
lines  ;  ammunition  is  brought  up  ;  troops  are  sent  to  oc- 
cupy Gulp's  hill ;  threatened  by  Ewell's  divisions,  skir- 
mishers are  thrown  out  on  the  front  and  right,  batteries 
are  planted  along  the  crest,  every  position  of  advantage 
is  occupied  with  the  bravest  show  of  force  that  can  be 
made,  with  a  view  to  deterring  the  enemy  from  attack- 
ing, until  re-enforcements,  now  rapidly  approaching  the 
field,  shall  arrive. 

".  .  .  An  hour  had  sufficed  to  make  a  great  change 
within  the  Union  lines  ;  a  vastly  greater  change  as  seen 
from  the  enemy's  ground. 

"Though  not  a  man  besides  Hancock  and  his  staff  had 
come  upon  the  field  since  Seminary  Ridge  was  lost,  Lee 
hesitated  to  give  the  order  to  attack  positions  naturally 
strong,  which  appeared  to  have  been  suddenly  occupied 
by  fresh  troops,  so  brave  was  the  show  of  force  every- 
where made. 

"He  instructed  Ewell  to  feel  our  line  on  its  right,  but 


584  THE  STORY   OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

not  to  bring  on  a  general  engagement.  That  delay  saved 
the  field  of  Gettysburg  to  the  Union  arms. 

"I  have  said  that  Hancock  had  'an  eye  for  a  battle- 
field.' The  terms  I  use  are  not  technical,  but  they  de- 
scribe a  quality  in  an  officer  that  every  practical  soldier 
understands.  It  has  its  application  to  a  field  like  that  of 
Gettysburg,  and  in  a  less  degree  to  that  of  Chickamauga. 
At  Gettysburg,  portions  of  two  great  armies  suddenly 
and  unexpectedly  collided.  The  Confederate  forces  were 
of  necessity  aggressive,  while  the  Union  army  could 
accomplish  its  proposed  results  by  a.  successful  defensive 
battle. 

"When  he  reached  Gettysburg,  Hancock  found  the 
position  held  by  the  Union  forces  menaced  by  startling 
dangers.  At  a  glance,  he  saw  the  advantages  of  the 
position,  and  boldly  resolved  that  there  the  great  battle 
should  be  fought  to  determine  the  fate  of  the  continent. 

"The  Confederate  general  invaded  Pennsylvania  for 
the  purpose  of  relieving  his  own  people  from  the  strain 
of  a  Union  army  constantly  menacing  Richmond  and 
producing  discouragement  throughout  the  South,  and 
the  prestige  to  be  given  the  Confederate  arms  abroad. 

"It  was,  at  that  stage  of  the  war,  a  bold  resolution, 
which  nothing  but  positive  success  could  vindicate.  If 
the  invasion  was  successful  even  to  the  extent  contem- 
plated by  Lee,  it  might  have  resulted  in  the  overthrow 
of  the  Union,  but  that  is  not  probable,  for  the  resources 
of  the  Northern  States  were  far  from  exhausted.  If  it 
failed,  as  it  did,  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy  would  be 
ruined.  It  may  be  that  General  Lee  felt  that  defeat, 
and,  as  Longstreet  intimates,  ordered  the  final  charge  at 
Gettysburg  from  feelings  of  sheer  desperation. 

"To  be  great,  is  to  be  equal  to  the  requirements  of 
great  occasions,  and  it  is  to  the  skill,  the  courage  and 
the  resolute  coolness  of  Hancock  that  Gettysburg  was 
selected  as  a  battlefield,  and  it  is  to  the  officers  of  all 
ranks  and  grades,  and  to  the  hardy,  resolute  courage  of 


PERE  MARQUETTE— HANCOCK  STATUE.  585 

the  private  soldiers  of  many  states,  that  the  country  owe 
the  crushing  repulse  of  the  Confederate  forces. 

"I  will  not  intrude  myself  into  the  invidious  office  of 
inquiring  whether  General  Hancock  possessed  all  the 
qualities  which  are  by  universal  consent  conceded  to 
other  great  commanders.  It  is  enough  to  say  for  him, 
that  he  was  great,  according  to  that  best  definition  of 
greatness,  'he  comprehended  and  seized  great  oppor- 
tunities.' 

"Mr.  President — It  is  a  source  of  satisfaction  to  every 
patriotic  mind  that  the  fame  of  General  Hancock  is 
cherished  in  all  portions  and  sections  of  these  now  per- 
fectly United  States.  No  Confederate  soldier  envies  the 
honors  paid  his  memory  to-day.  They  may  compare 
him  with  Jackson,  whose  greatness  as  a  corps  commander 
is  recognized,  and  of  whose  fame  every  American  who 
has  the  instincts  of  a  soldier  is  proud.  They  may  find 
in  the  long  list  of  Confederate  officers,  soldiers,  some  of 
their  great  names,  who,  in  their  estimation,  is  the  equal 
of  Hancock,  but  they  respected  him  while  he  lived,  and 
honor  his  memory  now  that  he  is  dead. 

"Mr.  President,  our  civil  war  had  its  origin  in  oppos- 
ing opinions,  entertained  in  different  states,  of  the  rela- 
tive powers  of  the  federal  government  and  of  the  states. 
There  were  also  irreconcilable  social  and  industrial  con- 
ditions, and  the  challenge  of  the  two  great  sections  of 
the  Union,  addressed  to  the  manhood  of  each  other. 

"The  suppression  of  the  doctrine  of  the  right  of  any 
of  the  states  to  secede  from  the  union  at  pleasure,  and 
abolition  of  slavery,  fully  compensated  the  American 
people  for  the  enormous  sacrifices  of  blood  and  treasure 
to  secure  those  ends.  But  the  war  had  another  benefi- 
cent consequence,  without  which  the  suppression  of  the 
theory  of  the  constitutional  right  of  the  states  to  secede 
from  the  Union  and  the  abolition  of  slavery  would  have 
been  comparatively  valueless.  The  war  settled  not  only 
the  quality,  but  the  equality,  of  American  manhood. 

"I  cannot  say  with  absolute  confidence  that  it  was  the 


586  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

southern  misconception  of  the  martial  qualities  of  the 
people  of  the  northern  states  which  caused  them  to  ac- 
cept, if  not  to  invite,  war  for  the  adjustment  of  the  pend- 
ing national  controversies. 

"Whatever  influence  an  impression  unfavorable  to 
northern  valor  may  have  had  upon  the  people  of  the 
South,  their  orators  and  writers  often  expressed  their 
belief  that  northern  men  were  destitute  of  courage  and 
would  not  fight. 

"We  in  the  West  always  intended,  in  the  language  of 
the  times,  to  'cut  our  way  to  the  gulf,'  and  that  the  Mis- 
sissippi river  should  'flow  unfettered  to  the  sea.'  But 
how  about  the  men  of  the  East — the  'Yankees' — would 
they  fight  for  the  defense  of  the  Union? 

"Later,  after  the  name  was  baptized  in  the  blood  of 
the  New  England  regiments  on  every  field  where  they 
fought,  and  was  glorified  by  their  valor,  every  soldier 
accepted  it  and  wore  it  with  pride. 

"After  Donelson,  Shiloh,  Murfreesboro  and  Chicka- 
mauga  in  the  West,  and  the  numerous  battles  in  the 
East — including  Gettysburg,  the  crowning  struggle  of 
the  war,  there  remained  no  doubt  but  that  Americans  of 
all  sections — North  and  South,  East  and  West — were 
equally  hardy,  equally  brave,  and  equally  ready  to  offer 
their  lives  in  defense  of  their  convictions  of  right. 
Now  that  we  have  ceased  to  struggle  against  each  other, 
we  know  with  absolute  confidence  that  the  men  of  every 
section  and  all  parts  of  the  great  Republic  are  equally 
patriotic  and  alike  willing  and  ready  to  defend  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  Union  and  the  honor  of  the  nation  against 
all  and  every  foe.  Americans  of  all  sections  and  of  all 
parts  of  one  common  country  now  know,  respect,  and 
confide  in  each  other,  and  we  will  transmit  that  senti- 
ment of  respect  and  confidence  to  our  children,  which 
will  afford  a  sure  guaranty  for  internal  peace  and  the 
defense  of  national  honor.  But  at  the  beginning  of  the 
strife  between  the  sections,  the  officers  of  the  army  were 
embarrassed  by  difficulties  of  an  altogether  different 


PERE  MARQUETTE— HANCOCK  STATUE.  587 

character.  For  the  most  part,  they  had  been  educated  to- 
gether in  the  national  military  school.  They  knew  each 
other  well,  and  none  of  them  doubted  the  courage  or  reso- 
lution of  the  others.  They  were  citizens  of  different 
states,  and  some  of  them  were  overcome  by  the  delusion 
that  their  paramount  allegiance  was  due  to  the  state  of 
their  birth  or  of  their  domicile.  When  I  characterize  the 
theory  of  primal  allegiance  to  the  states  as  a  delusion,  I 
confess  that  the  embarrassments  of  the  army  officers 
born  in  the  seceding  states  were  cruel. 

"Mrs.  Hancock  tells  the  tale.  She  writes  :  'It  is  with 
sadness  that  I  revert  to  those  days  of  trial,  when  the 
hearts  of  some  of  our  gallant  officers  were  torn  almost 
asunder  by  the  conflicting  passions  of  fidelity  to  their 
country  and  their  state,  the  sovereignty  they  were  edu- 
cated to  believe  superior  to  all  others.  Full  allowances 
must  be  made  for  the  brave  men  of  the  South,  who  were 
as  honest  in  their  convictions  as  the  bravest  on  the  side 
of  the  Union. 

"  'Many  conferences  were  held  in  our  house  in  Los 
Angeles  between  my  husband  and  southern  officers,  who 
were  urged  by  their  relatives  and  friends  to  resign  their 
commissions  and  offer  their  services  to  their  own  states, 
as  otherwise  they  would  be  regarded  as  renegades 
throughout  the  South. 

"They  sought  the  advice  of  my  husband,  hoping  to 
receive  from  him  some  comfort  or  encouragement,  but 
he  could  give  none,  and  would  say  to  those  dear  friends, 
Armistead,  Garnett,  Picket,  and  a  host  of  others  whom 
he  loved  :  'I  can  give  you  no  advice,  as  I  shall  not  fight 
upon  the  principle  of  state  rights,  but  for  the  Union, 
whole  and  undivided,  as  I  do  not  and  will  not  belong  to 
a  country  formed  of  principalities.  I  cannot  sympa- 
thize with  you  :  you  must  be  guided  by  your  own  con- 
victions, and  I  hope  you  will  make  no  mistakes.' 

"The  war  very  soon  assumed  the  apparent  aspect  of 
a  struggle  between  rival  governments  supported  by  sub- 
stantially the  whole  population  of  the  opposing  sections 


588  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

of  the  Union.  If  some  of  the  officers  of  the  army  erred 
even  to  a  criminal  extent,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
their  homes  were  threatened  with  invasion,  and  they  only 
shared  the  fortunes  of  those  they  loved. 

"Mr.  President,  we  stand  in  the  presence  of  this  ap- 
propriate monument  of  a  hero.  We  do  all  we  can  to 
perpetuate  his  fame,  conscious  as  we  are  that  as  the 
centuries  recede,  his  great  name  will  be  less  and  less 
known  and  less  and  less  frequently  mentioned. 

"The  great  Napoleon,  realizing  that  though  the  fame 
of  his  deeds  then  filled  the  world,  said  near  the  last : 
'Ten  centuries  from  now  all  that  I  have  done  will  be 
condensed  into  ten  pages  of  history.' 

"We  know  too,  that — 

'The  cloud-capped  towers,  the  gorgeous  palaces, 
The  solemn  temples,  the  great  globe  itself ; 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit,  shall  dissolve, 
And,  like  this  insubstantial  pageant  faded, 
Leave  not  a  rack  behind.' 

«But— 

'No  pyramids  set  off  hie  memories, 
But  the  eternal  substance  of  his  greatness, 
To  which  I  leave  him.'  " 


NATIONAL  CONVENTIONS  OF  1896.  589 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

The  meeting  of  the  Democratic  state  committee — Democratic  leader- 
ship— Douglas — Pendleton — Democratic  convention  of  1892 — Demo- 
cratic convention  of  1896 — Money  planks  in  all  of  the  platforms. 

The  Democratic  state  committee  assembled  in  Spring- 
field on  April  5,  1892,  and  after  some  opposition  on  the 
part  of  Mr.  Adams  A.  Goodrich,  a  member  from  Cook 
county,  and  Mr.  Wm.  S.  Forman,  a  member  of  the  com- 
mittee who  resided  in  East  St.  Louis,  and  others,  fixed 
a  date  for  a  convention  to  be  held  in  Springfield,  on 
June  5th  thereafter. 

The  purpose  of  the  convention  was  to  pledge  the 
Democratic  party  to  the  free  coinage  of  silver  on  the 
ratio  of  "sixteen  of  silver  to  one  of  gold,  with  the  legal 
tender  quality  for  all  debts  public  and  private." 

The  convention  met  and  proceeded  to  pass  resolutions 
committing  the  party  to  the  "free  coinage  of  silver."  It 
was  called  a  "snap"  convention,  because  it  took  the 
party  by  surprise,  and  because  it  was  wholly  unneces- 
sary. Douglas  led  the  party  to  the  "repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,"  and  lost  the  state  ;  the  Chicago 
convention,  in  1864,  committed  the  country  to  the  peace 
policy,  and,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Geo.  H.  Pendle- 
ton, the  party  was  committed  to  the  taxation  of  the  bonds 
of  the  United  States,  issued  to  carry  on  the  war  against 
the  rebellion,  and  to  pay  them  off  in  the  legal  tenders 
issued  by  the  government,  and  refused  to  endorse  the 
abolition  of  slavery  by  executive  order,  and  now  it  was 
the  purpose  of  the  weak  leaders  to  commit  the  party  to 
the  free  silver  idea. 

No  one  pretended  that  it  was  not  the  purpose  of  the 
Democratic  convention  to  make  the  free  coinage  of  silver 
one  of  the  articles  of  the  creed  of  the  party,  and  to  en- 


590  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

hance  the  price  of  silver  by  legislation,  which  was  the 
worst  form  of  protection. 

In  the  course  of  my  senatorial  term  I  had  fully  com- 
mitted myself  to  the  gold  standard  of  values.  I  had 
argued  in  the  senate  that  the  establishment  of  silver 
coinage  on  the  ratio  of  sixteen  to  one,  with  enforced 
legal  tender  quality  would  cause  gold,  as  the  most 
precious  metal,  to  disappear  from  circulation.  Silver 
was  then  worth  but  sixty-eight  cents  an  ounce,  as  com- 
pared with  gold  at  one  dollar  and  twenty-nine  cents. 

I  insisted  that  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Cockerell,  of 
Missouri,  that  "silver  would  rise  some  and  gold  would 
fall  some,"  was  illogical  and  untenable,  because  the  ex- 
perience of  mankind  was  that  gold  would  escape  to 
where  it  was  properly  valued,  and  that  it  would  be  prac- 
tically to  establish  silver  as  the  only  metal  of  circula- 
tion. I  argued  that  the  educational  funds,  which  were 
established  by  law  and  by  the  benevolence  of  liberal 
persons,  would  be  reduced  in  value,  and  that  the  burden 
would  fall  upon  the  most  helpless  classes. 

The  Democratic  convention  had  in  1892  denounced 
the  Republican  legislation  known  as  the  Sherman  Act 
of  1890  as  a  "cowardly  makeshift,"  fraught  with  possi- 
bilities of  danger  in  the  future  which  should  make  all 
of  its  supporters,  as  well  as  its  author,  anxious  for  its 
repeal. 

The  convention  also  resolved  that:  "We  hold  to  the 
use  of  both  gold  and  silver,  without  discrimination 
against  either  metal  or  charge  for  mintage,  but  the  dol- 
lar unit  of  coinage  of  both  metals  must  be  of  equal  in- 
trinsic and  exchangeable  value,  or  be  adjusted  through 
international  agreement,  or  by  such  safeguards  or  legis- 
lation as  shall  insure  the  maintenance  of  the  parity  of 
the  two  metals,  and  the  equal  power  of  every  dollar  at 
all  times  in  the  market  and  in  the  payment  of  debts ; 
and  we  demand  that  all  paper  currency  shall  be  kept  at 
par  with  and  redeemable  in  such  coin." 

The  free  coinage  of  silver  was  an  experiment,  and 


NATIONAL  CONVENTIONS  OF  18%.  591 

proposed  to  raise  the  value  of  silver  for  the  purposes  of 
coinage  to  one  dollar  and  twenty -nine  cents  an  ounce, 
which  was  the  price  of  gold.  I  regarded  this  as  impos- 
sible and  thought  that  the  legal  standard  of  values 
would  be  depreciated.  I  had  said  in  my  speech  at  Fair- 
field,  Wayne  county,  when  a  candidate  for  the  senate, 
that  I  was  in  favor  of  the  free  coinage  of  silver  if  it 
could  be  done  without  depreciating  the  standard  of 
values.  I  was  therefore  fully  committed  to  the  Demo- 
cratic platform  of  1892.  Under  the  influence  of  these 
convictions,  on  June  20,  1894,  I  wrote  the  letter  to  Mr. 
Webb,  which  I  have  given. 

The  so-called  Democratic  convention  which  met  in 
Chicago  in  1896  nominated  for  the  presidency  William 
J.  Bryan,  of  Nebraska,  and  for  the  vice-presidency, 
Arthur  Sewall,  of  Maine.  Its  platform  declared  : 

"Recognizing  that  the  money  question  is  paramount 
to  all  others  at  this  time,  we  call  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  federal  constitution  names  silver  and  gold  to- 
gether as  the  money  metals  of  the  United  States,  and 
that  the  first  coinage  law  passed  by  congress  under  the 
constitution  made  the  silver  dollar  the  monetary  unit, 
and  admitted  gold  to  free  coinage  at  the  ratio  placed 
upon  the  silver  dollar  unit. 

"We  declare  that  the  act  of  1873,  demonetizing  silver 
without  the  knowledge  and  approval  of  the  American 
people,  has  resulted  in  the  appreciation  of  gold  and  a 
corresponding  fall  in  the  price  of  commodities  produced 
by  the  people,  a  heavy  increase  in  the  burden  of  taxa- 
tion, and  of  all  debts,  public  and  private  ;  the  enrich- 
ment of  the  money-lending  classes  at  home  and  abroad  ; 
the  prostration  of  industry  and  the  impoverishment  of 
the  people. 

"We  are  unalterably  opposed  to  the  monometallism 
which  has  locked  fast  the  prosperity  of  an  industrious 
people  in  the  paralysis  of  hard  times.  Gold  monometal- 
lism is  a  British  policy,  and  its  adoption  has  brought 
other  nations  into  financial  servitude  to  London.  It  is 


592  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

not  only  un-American,  but  an ti- American,  and  it  can  be 
fastened  on  the  United  States  only  by  the  stifling  of 
that  spirit  and  love  of  liberty  which  proclaimed  our  po- 
litical independence  in  1776  and  won  it  in  the  war  of  the 
Revolution. 

"We  demand  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  both 
silver  and  gold  at  the  present  legal  ratio  of  sixteen  to 
one,  without  waiting  for  the  aid  or  consent  of  any  other 
nation. 

"We  demand  that  the  standard  silver  dollar  shall  be 
of  full  legal  tender  equally  with  gold  for  all  debts,  pub- 
lic and  private,  and  we  favor  such  legislation  as  will 
prevent  for  the  future  the  demonetization  of  any  kind  of 
legal  tender  money  by  private  contract. 

"We  are  opposed  to  the  policy  and  practice  of  surren- 
dering to  the  holders  of  obligations  of  the  United  States 
the  option  reserved  by  law  to  the  government  of  re- 
deeming such  obligations  in  either  silver  coin  or  gold 
coin. 

"We  are  opposed  to  the  issuing  of  interest-bearing 
bonds  of  the  United  States  in  time  of  peace,  and  con- 
demn the  trafficking  with  banking  syndicates  which  in 
exchange  for  bonds  at  an  enormous  profit  to  themselves 
supply  the  federal  treasury  with  gold  to  maintain  the 
policy  of  gold  monometallism." 

The  National  Silver  Party  of  America  assembled  in 
St.  Louis  and  adopted  the  following  declaration  of 
principles.  Its  nominees  for  president  and  vice-presi- 
dent were  Bryan  and  Sewall,  the  same  as  the  so-called 
Democratic  party,  and  resolved  that : 

"The  paramount  issue  at  this  time  in  the  United 
States  is  indisputably  the  money  question.  It  is  be- 
tween the  British  gold  standard,  gold  bonds  and  bank 
currency  on  the  one  side  and  the  bimetallic  standard,  no 
bonds,  government  currency  (an  American  policy)  on 
the  other. 

"On  this  issue  we  declare  ourselves  to  be  in  favor  of  a 
distinctively  American  financial  system.  We  are  un- 


NATIONAL  CONVENTIONS  OF  1896.  593 

alterably  opposed  to  the  single  gold  standard  and  de- 
mand immediate  return  to  the  constitutional  standard 
of  gold  and  silver,  by  the  restoration  by  this  govern- 
ment, independently  of  any  foreign  power,  of  the  un- 
restricted coinage  of  both  gold  and  silver  into  standard 
coin  at  the  ratio  of  sixteen  to  one,  and  upon  terms  of 
exact  equality,  as  they  existed  prior  to  1873  ;  the  silver 
coin  to  be  of  full  legal  tender  equally  with  gold  for  all 
debts  and  dues,  public  and  private,  and  we  demand 
such  legislation  as  will  prevent  for  the  future  destruc- 
tion of  the  legal  tender  quality  of  any  kind  of  money  by 
private  contract. 

".  .  .  The  demonetization  of  silver  in  1873  enor- 
mously increased  the  demand  for  gold,  enhancing  its 
purchasing  power  and  lowering  all  prices  measured  by 
that  standard.  And  since  that  unjust  and  indefensible 
act  the  prices  of  American  products  have  fallen  upon  an 
average  of  nearly  fifty  per  cent,  carrying  down  with 
them  proportionately  the  money  value  of  all  other  forms 
of  property." 

The  Populist  National  Convention  met  at  St.  Louis  on 
July  22,  1896,  and  nominated  for  president  of  the  United 
States  William  J.  Bryan,  and  for  vice-president  Thomas 
Watson.  I  give  below  the  money  plank  of  their  plat- 
form : 

"We  demand  a  national  money,  safe  and  sound,  issued 
by  the  general  government  -only,  without  the  interven- 
tion of  banks  of  issue,  to  be  full  legal  tender  for  all 
debts,  public  and  private  ;  a  just,  equitable  and  efficient 
means  of  distribution  direct  to  the  people  and  through 
the  lawful  distribution  of  the  government. 

"We  demand  the  free  and  unrestricted  coinage  of 
silver  and  gold  at  the  present  legal  ratio,  of  sixteen  to 
one,  without  waiting  for  the  consent  of  foreign  nations. 

"We  demand  the  volume  of  circulating  medium  be 
speedily  increased  to  an  amount  sufficient  to  meet  the 
demands  of  the  business  and  population  of  this  country, 
38 


594  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

and  to  restore  the  just  level  of  prices  of  labor  and  pro- 
duction. 

"We  demand  such  legislation  as  will  prevent  the  de- 
monetization of  the  lawful  money  of  the  United  States 
by  private  contract. 

"We  demand  that  the  government,  in  payment  of  its 
obligations,  shall  use  its  option  as  to  the  kind  of  lawful 
money  in  which  they  are  to  be  paid,  and  we  denounce 
the  present  and  preceding  administrations  for  surrender- 
ing its  option  to  the  holders  of  government  obliga- 
tions." 

The  Republican  National  Convention  was  held  at  St. 
Louis  in  1896  and  nominated  for  president  and  vice- 
president  William  McKinley  and  Garrett  A.  Hobart. 
The  financial  plank  of  their  platform  was  the  following : 

"The  American  people  from  tradition  and  interest 
favor  bimetallism,  and  the  Republican  party  demands 
the  use  of  both  gold  and  silver  as  standard  money,  with 
such  restrictions  and  under  such  provisions,  to  be  deter- 
mined by  legislation,  as  will  secure  the  maintenance  of 
the  parity  of  values  of  the  two  metals,  so  that  the  pur- 
chasing and  debt  paying  power  of  the  dollar,  whether 
of  gold,  silver  or  paper,  shall  be  at  all  times  equal.  The 
interests  of  the  producers  of  the  country,  its  farmers  and 
its  workingmen,  demand  that  every  dollar,  paper  or 
coin,  issued  by  the  government  shall  be  as  good  as  any 
other.  We  commend  the  wise  and  patriotic  steps  al- 
ready taken  by  our  government  to  secure  an  inter- 
national conference  to  adopt  such  measures  as  will  in- 
sure a  parity  of  value  between  gold  and  silver  for  use  as 
money  throughout  the  world." 

The  National  Democratic  Convention  assembled  at 
Indianapolis  on  September  2,  1896,  and  I  addressed  the 
convention. 

"Gentlemen,  I  have  the  honor  for  a  moment  to  pre- 
side over  the  first  National  Democratic  Convention  held 
in  the  year  1896.  The  gavel  will  be  in  my  hand  but  a 
moment.  We  are  assembled  here  for  lofty,  noble  and 


NATIONAL  CONVENTIONS  OF  1896.  595 

patriotic  purposes.  Our  earnest  desire  is  to  serve  our 
country,  and  in  the  sincerity  of  that  earnest  purpose  we 
may  appeal  to  the  Judge  of  all  hearts.  We  may  appeal 
to  the  Great  Master,  to  the  Great  Governor,  and  I  beg 
of  you  now  to  listen  to  an  invocation  from  Bishop  White, 
of  the  Diocese  of  Indiana." 

.  .  .  The  convention  adopted  the  following  plat- 
form with  regard  to  the  financial  issues  : 

"This  convention  has  assembled  to  uphold  the  prin- 
ciples upon  which  depend  the  honor  and  welfare  of  the 
American  people ;  in  order  that  Democrats  throughout 
the  Union  may  unite  their  patriotic  efforts  to  avert  dis- 
aster to  their  country  and  ruin  from  their  party. 

"...  The  declarations  of  the  Chicago  conven- 
tion attack  individual  freedom,  the  right  of  private  con- 
tract, the  independence  of  the  judiciary  and  the  authoriy 
of  the  president  to  enforce  federal  laws.  They  advocate  a 
reckless  attempt  to  increase  the  price  of  silver  by  legis- 
lation to  the  debasement  of  our  monetary  standard,  and 
threaten  unlimited  issues  of  paper  money  by  the  govern- 
ment. They  abandon  for  Republican  allies  the  Demo- 
cratic cause  of  tariff  reform,  to  court  the  favor  of  pro- 
tectionists. In  view  of  their  fiscal  heresy  and  other 
grave  departures  from  Democratic  principles,  we  cannot 
support  the  candidates  of  that  convention,  nor  be  bound 
by  its  acts.  The  Democratic  party  has  survived  many 
defeats,  but  could  not  survive  a  victory  won  in  behalf  of 
the  doctrine  and  policy  proclaimed  in  its  name  at  Chi- 
cago. .  .  .  We  arraign  and  condemn  the  populistic 
conventions  of  Chicago  and  St.  Louis,  for  their  co-opera- 
tion with  the  Republican  party  in  creating  these  conditions 
which  are  pleaded  in  justification  of  a  heavy  increase  of 
the  burdens  of  the  people  by  a  further  resort  to  protec- 
tion. We  therefore  denounce  protection  and  its  ally, 
free  coinage  of  silver,  as  schemes  for  the  personal  profit 
of  a  few  at  the  expense  of  the  masses,  and  oppose  the 
two  parties  which  stand  for  these  schemes  as  hostile  to 
the  people  of  the  republic  whose  food  and  shelter,  com- 


596  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

fort  and  prosperity,  are  attacked  by  higher  taxes  and  de- 
preciated money.  In  fine,  we  affirm  the  historic  Dem- 
ocratic doctrine  of  tariff  for  revenue  only.  .  .  .  The 
experience  of  mankind  has  shown  that  by  reason  of  their 
natural  qualities,  gold  is  the  necessary  money  of  the 
large  affairs  of  commerce  and  business,  while  silver  is 
conveniently  adapted  to  minor  transactions,  and  the 
most  beneficial  use  of  both  together  can  be  insured  by 
the  adoption  of  the  former  as  a  standard  of  monetary 
measure  and  the  maintenance  of  silver  at  a  parity  with 
gold  by  its  limited  coinage  under  suitable  safeguards  of 
law.  Thus  the  largest  possible  enjoyment  of  both 
metals  is  gained  with  a  value  universally  accepted 
throughout  the  world,  which  constitutes  the  only  prac- 
tical bimetallic  currency,  assuring  the  most  stable  stand- 
ard, and  especially  the  best  and  safest  money  for  all  who 
earn  their  livelihood  by  labor  or  the  product  of  hus- 
bandry. They  cannot  suffer  when  paid  in  the  best 
money  known  to  man,  but  are  the  peculiar  and  most  de- 
fenseless victims  of  a  debased  and  fluctuating  currency, 
which  offers  a  continual  profit  to  the  money  changer  at 
their  cost. 

"Realizing  these  truths,  demonstrated  by  long  public 
inconvenience  and  loss,  the  Democratic  party,  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  masses,  and  equal  justice  to  all,  practically 
established  by  the  legislation  of  1834  and  1853  the  gold 
standard  of  monetary  measurements,  and  likewise  en- 
tirely divorced  the  government  from  banking  and  cur- 
rency issues.  To  this  long  established  Democratic 
policy  we  adhere,  and  insist  upon  the  maintenance  of 
the  gold  standard,  and  of  the  parity  of  every  dollar 
issued  by  the  government,  and  are  firmly  opposed  to  the 
free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  and  the  compulsory 
purchase  of  silver  bullion.  But  we  denounce  also  the 
further  maintenance  of  the  present  costly  patch-work 
system  of  the  national  paper  currency  as  a  constant 
source  of  injury  and  peril.  .  .  . 

"The   fidelity,    patriotism    and   courage  with   which 


NATIONAL  CONVENTIONS  OF  1896.  597 

President  Cleveland  has  fulfilled  his  great  public  trust, 
the  high  character  of  his  administration,  its  wisdom  and 
energy  in  the  maintenance  of  civil  order  and  the  enforce- 
ment of  law,  its  equal  regard  for  the  rights  of  every 
class  and  every  section,  its  firm  and  dignified  conduct  of 
foreign  affairs,  and  its  sturdy  persistence  in  upholding 
the  credit  and  honor  of  the  nation,  are  fully  recognized 
by  the  Democratic  party,  and  will  secure  to  him  a  place 
in  history  beside  the  fathers  of  the  republic. 

"The  Democratic  party  ever  has  maintained  and 
ever  will  maintain  the  supremacy  of  the  law,  the  inde- 
pendence of  its  judicial  administration,  the  inviolability 
of  contract  and  the  obligation  of  all  good  citizens  to  re- 
sist every  illegal  trust,  combination  and  attempt  against 
the  just  rights  of  property  and  the  good  order  of  society, 
in  which  are  bound  up  the  peace  and  happiness  of  our 
people." 

At  this  convention,  I  was  nominated  as  a  candidate 
for  the  presidency,  and  General  Simon  Boliver  Buckner 
was  selected  as  the  candidate  for  the  vice-presidency. 

At  the  Auditorium  building,  in  the  city  of  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  on  the  12th  day  of  September,  1896,  we  were 
formally  notified  of  our  candidacy  to  the  presidency  and 
vice-presidency,  by  Senator  Caffery,  of  Louisiana,  and 
Colonel  John  R.  Fellows,  of  New  York,  who  has  since  died. 

Previous  to  that  time,  letters  had  been  received  from 
President  Cleveland  and  Secretary  Carlisle,  and  other 
prominent  Democrats,  approving  the  platform  and  re- 
asserting the  principles  of  the  party.  In  my  speech  of 
acceptance,  I  said,  concerning  the  declarations  of  the 
Indianapolis  convention : 

"Its  platform  asserts  truths  which  can  be  demonstrated, 
and  it  correctly  defines  Democratic  principles.  It  asserts 
that  the  Democratic  party  is  pledged  to  equal  and  exact 
justice  to  all  men  of  every  creed  and  condition;  to  the 
largest  freedom  of  the  individual  consistent  with  good 
government ;  to  the  preservation  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment in  its  constitutional  vigor,  and  to  the  support  of 


598  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  states  in  all  their  just  rights  ;  to  economy  in  the  public 
expenditures  ;  to  the  maintenance  of  the  public  faith  and 
sound  money ;  and  it  is  opposed  to  paternalism  and  all 
class  legislation.  It  also  asserts  that  the  declaration  of 
the  Chicago  convention  attacks  individual  freedom  ;  the 
right  of  private  contract ;  the  independence  of  the  judi- 
ciary, and  the  authority  of  the  president  to  enforce  fed- 
eral laws.  They  advocate  a  reckless  attempt  to  increase 
the  price  of  silver  by  legislation,  to  the  debasement  of 
our  monetary  standard,  and  threaten  the  unlimited  issue 
of  paper  money  by  the  government ;  they  abandon,  for 
Republican  allies,  the  Democratic  cause  of  tariff  reform, 
to  court  the  favor  of  protectionists  to  their  fiscal  heresy. 
It  then  asserts  with  earnestness,  and  in  terms  which  will 
not  satisfy  those  who  assert  it,  to  be  the  duty  of  a  Dem- 
ocrat to  'first  vote  the  ticket,  and  then  read  the  plat- 
form.' That,  in  view  of  these  and  other  grave  depart- 
ures from  Democratic  principles,  we  cannot  support  the 
candidates  of  that  convention,  nor  be  bound  by  its  acts. 
.  The  advocates  of  the  free  coinage  of  full  legal- 
tender  silver  do  not  agree  as  to  what  will  be  the  conse- 
quences of  the  adoption  by  the  United  States  of  their 
favorite  measure.  The  more  intelligent  know  that  it  is 
impossible  by  law  to  give  to  silver  bullion,  or  silver  coin, 
a  local  value  in  the  United  States,  and,  therefore,  Mr. 
Bryan,  who  must  be  regarded  as  the  official  interpreter 
of  the  free-silver  dogma,  asserts  his  belief  that  the  un- 
limited coinage  of  legal-tender  silver  by  the  United  States 
alone  would  increase  the  value  of  silver  bullion,  which 
to-day  is  worth  sixty-seven  cents  per  ounce  to  one  dollar 
and  twenty-nine  cents,  and  he  asserts  his  belief  that 
under  unlimited  coinage  the  silver  dollar  containing  four 
hundred  and  twelve  and  one-half  (412i)  grains  standard 
silver,  coined  by  the  authority  of  the  United  States, 
would  be  of  equal  acceptability  and  value  with  the  dollar 
containing  twenty-five  and  eight-tenths  (25.8)  grains  of 
standard  gold  in  all  the  markets  of  the  world.  It  is 
something  that  this  opinion  has  no  support  in  the  experi- 


NATIONAL  CONVENTIONS  OF  1896.  599 

ence  of  mankind.  It  is  enough  for  present  purposes  to 
say  it  has  no  foundation  other  than  the  confident  asser- 
tions of  those  who  share  in  that  belief.  No  party  in  the 
country  ever  undertook  so  much  as  do  the  advocates  of 
the  unlimited  coinage  of  silver.  They  not  only  under- 
take to  maintain  the  commercial  parity  in  value  of  about 
four  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  five  hundred  and  two 
dollars  and  forty-one  cents  silver  ($434,502.41)  already 
coined  by  the  United  States  under  the  authority  of  the 
acts  of  February  28,  1878,  and  of  July  19,  1890,  and  of 
all  the  silver  dollars  that  hereafter  may  be  coined,  but 
they  assume  the  task  of  advancing  the  value  of  the  silver 
coin  of  all  the  nations  of  the  world  to  an  equal  accepta- 
bility and  value  with  coins  of  gold.  If  the  expectations 
of  such  of  the  advocates  of  free  coinage  of  silver  are 
realized,  it  would  be  difficult  upon  their  own  premises 
to  perceive  what  would  be  gained  by  cheap  money.  Ac- 
cepting their  claim,  that  under  free  coinage  the  dollar  of 
silver  would  become  of  equal  acceptability  and  value, 
and  equal  power  in  the  markets  and  in  the  payment  of 
debts  throughout  the  civilized  world,  the  silver  dollar 
would  then  be  as  difficult  to  procure  as  the  gold  dollar 
now  is.  They  claim  now  that  the  dollar  of  gold  has 
too  much  purchasing  power,  and  is  too  difficult  to 
obtain. 

"But  the  real  expectation  of  the  great  body  of  the  sup- 
porters of  the  free  coinage  of  silver,  and  one  much  more 
in  harmony  with  the  experience  of  mankind,  is,  that  the 
unlimited  coinage  of  silver  would  give  to  the  country  a 
depreciated  and  cheaper  dollar,  which  would  enhance 
nominal  values  and  be  used  in  the  payment  of  debts,  but 
would  be  attended  and  followed  by  the  ruin  of  all  indus- 
tries, the  destruction  of  public  and  private  credit,  and 
irreparable  mischiefs. 

"Our  platform  commits  us  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
Democratic  faith.  Many  of  our  associates,  deluded  by 
deceptive  sophistries,  are  supporting  a  coalition  which 
disavows  the  traditional  faith  of  the  Democratic  party. 


600  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

The  best  we  can.  hope  for  them  is  that  they  may  be  de- 
feated, and  when  defeated,  that  they  may  return  to  the 
safe  paths  that  they  have  heretofore  trodden." 

After  having  been  notified  of  our  nomination,  I  re- 
turned to  Springfield  and  remained  until  later  in  the 
month,  when  I  met  General  Buckner  in  New  York  City. 
We  addressed  a  large  audience  in  Madison  Square  Gar- 
den. Accompanied  by  several  leading  Gold  Democrats, 
I  went  to  Brooklyn,  and  there  spoke  upon  the  issues  of 
the  day.  We  again  addressed  the  people  in  Baltimore 
and  Philadelphia.  I  then  returned  to  my  home,  stop- 
ping for  a  few  days  in  Washington  with  my  daughter, 
Mrs.  E.  G.  Crabbe. 


ANNIVERSARY  AT  GALESBURG.  601 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Visit  to  Galesburg — Address  on  Lincoln  and  Douglas — Met  General 
Buckner  at  Chicago — Begin  the  canvass— Home  of  Don  Dickinson — 
Visit  Cincinnati. 

On  October  7,  1896,  I  visited  Galesburg,  and  with 
Mrs.  Palmer  was  hospitably  entertained  by  Mrs.  Philip 
S.  Post,  who,  with  her  son  and  daughter,  gave  us  a 
hearty  welcome.  Mrs.  Post  was  the  widow  of  the  for- 
mer member  of  congress  from  that  district,  who  was  also 
colonel  of  the  59th  Illinois  Infantry,  which  had  played 
so  important  a  part  in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga.  My 
visit  to  Galesburg  was  by  invitation  of  President  Finley, 
of  Knox  College.  The  occasion  was  commemorative  of 
the  great  debate  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas,  which 
occurred  on  the  same  platform  and  on  the  same  day  in 
1858.  Amongst  those  upon  the  platform  were  Robert  T. 
Lincoln,  Hon.  Chauncey  Depew,  General  Clark  E.  Carr 
and  Dr.  Newton  Bateman,  who  soon  after  passed  from 
this  world,  where  he  had  lived  a  long  and  useful  life, 
beloved  by  all  who  knew  him. 

Addresses  were  made  by  Robert  Lincoln  and  Mr. 
Depew.  My  own  was  a  comparison  of  the  two  great 
leaders,  which  is  given  below  : 

"ORATION  OP  HON.  JOHN  M.  PALMER,  DELIVERED  AT 
GALESBURG,  ILL.,  OCTOBER  7,  1896. 

"It  is  too  early  even  now  for  an  impartial  review  of 
the  great  debate,  which  commenced  at  Ottawa  on  the 
21st  of  August,  and  was  continued  at  Freeport  on  the 
27th,  at  Jonesboro  on  the  15th  of  September,  at  Charles- 
ton on  the  18th  of  the  same  month,  at  Galesburg,  October 
7th,  Quincy,  October  13th,  and  which  ended  at  Alton  on 
October  15,  1858. 

"The  places  I  have  mentioned  were  the  mere  points 


602  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

of  contact  between  these  two  great  leaders  as  they  tra- 
versed the  state.  In  the  intervals  between  their  former 
meetings,  both  of  them  addressed  large  popular  assem- 
blies in  different  parts  of  the  state,  and  in  that  manner 
continued  the  discussion  of  the  questions  of  the  day, 
until  the  people  were  fully  aroused,  and  watched  this 
battle  of  the  giants  with  the  most  profound  and  absorb- 
ing interest. 

"I  have  said  that  it  is  too  early  for  an  impartial  re- 
view of  the  'debate  of  1858,'  for  though  thirty-eight 
years  have  elapsed  since  the  historic  meeting  of  Lincoln 
and  Douglas,  which  occurred  on  this  spot,  some  of  the 
subordinate  actors  in  the  drama  of  that  year  still  sur- 
vive, while  some  of  them  preceded  Douglas  into  the  land 
of  shadows,  and  did  not  live  to  hear  his  words  of  burn- 
ing patriotism,  when  with  transcendent  eloquence,  he 
pleaded  with  his  countrymen  to  save  the  states  from  dis- 
integration, and  the  Union  under  the  constitution,  from 
subversion. 

"Others  of  their  hearers  died  under  the  flag,  in  the 
hospitals  or  on  the  battle-fields,  and  did  not  witness  the 
tragedy  of  the  14th  of  April,  1865,  or  share  in  the  almost 
despairing  gloom  which  that  event  cast  upon  the  country. 
Still  others  have  fallen  by  the  wayside,  and  the  days  and 
years  have  passed,  and  now  a  few,  ah,  how  few,  linger, 
as  if  reluctant  to  quit  the  stage.  After  awhile,  when  all 
of  them  are  gone,  the  historian  will  with  judicial  ac- 
curacy arrange  his  pitiless  facts,  and  then,  and  not  until 
then,  will  the  world  be  given  a  calm  and  impartial  re- 
view of  the  great  debate  of  1858,  with  all  of  its  attend- 
ant characteristic  circumstances.  Still,  on  this  occasion, 
without  in  justice  to  the  memory  of  the  dead,  and  without 
risk  of  wounding  the  sensibilities  of  the  living,  I  may  con- 
tribute something  to  the  picture  which  this  assemblage 
is  intended  to  recall  and  commemorate. 

"The  personnel  of  Douglas  and  Lincoln  are  almost  as 
well  known  to  the  people  of  Illinois  as  to  their  contempo- 
raries. It  is  difficult  to  imagine  men  more  unlike  in  their 


ANNIVERSARY  AT  GALESBURG.  603 

origin,  their  education,  their  intellectual  and  personal 
habits  and  appearance.  Mr.  Douglas  was  of  New  En- 
gland birth,  had  the  advantages  afforded  by  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  state,  and  had  some  share  of  classical 
training.  He  came  to  Illinois  and  found  employment  as 
a  teacher. 

"Mr.  Lincoln  was  born  in  Kentucky,  where  at  that 
time  public  schools  were  unknown.  His  opportunities 
for  mere  elementary  education  were  of  the  most  humble 
character.  The  story  of  his  earlier  years  is  familiar  and 
I  will  not  repeat  it.  It  is  the  history  of  a  life  commenced 
under  most  unfavorable  circumstances,  and  its  lesson  is 
that  under  American  institutions  eminence  is  attainable 
by  the  most  humble. 

"I  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  Douglas  in  the  month 
of  June,  1838,  when  he  was  a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the 
second  branch  of  congress  of  the  United  States.  The 
district  he  sought  to  represent  included  Quincy  and 
Chicago,  Danville  and  Rock  Island,  Springfield  and 
Galena. 

"At  that  time  Illinois  was  entitled  to  but  three  mem- 
bers of  'the  house,'  and  the  population,  as  shown  by  the 
preceding  census,  made  it  proper  to  provide  two  districts 
in  Southern  Illinois,  and  but  one  for  the  whole  northern 
half  of  the  state.  I  heard  Mr.  Douglas  the  day  after  our 
first  meeting  in  1838,  and  was  impressed  with  his  re- 
markable power  as  a  popular  orator.  My  subsequent  ac- 
quaintance with  him  ripened  into  the  most  profound  re- 
spect for  his  great  abilities. 

"In  December,  1839,  when  I  visited  Springfield  to  ob- 
tain admission  to  the  bar,  he  took  charge  of  my  applica- 
tion, obtained  an  order  for  the  appointment  of  a  commit- 
tee, consisting  of  himself  and  Jonathan  Young  Scam- 
mon,  a  name  venerable  in  law,  to  examine  me  touching 
my  qualifications  to  practice  as  an  attorney  and  counselor 
at  law,  made  a  favorable  report,  wrote  my  license,  ob- 
tained the  signature  of  two  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme 
court,  handed  me  the  license,  and  congratulated  me  on 


604  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

my  entry  upon  what  he  called  'the  honorable  profession 
of  the  law.' 

"It  can  be  readily  imagined  that  from  that  time  until 
political  events  separated  us  I  was  his  devoted  follower, 
always  ready  and  eager  to  serve  him. 

"In  December,  1839,  while  in  Springfield  on  the  er- 
rand I  have  just  mentioned,  I  saw  Abraham  Lincoln  for 
the  first  time,  but  not  under  circumstances  favorable  to 
the  formation  of  intimate  personal  or  political  relations 
betwe'en  us.  He  came  into  the  building  occupied  by  the 
second  branch  of  the  legislature,  and  made  what  was 
called  in  the  language  of  the  times,  'a  Whig  speech,'  in 
which  he  assailed  the  Democratic  party  with  great  se- 
verity. Although  at  that  time  the  Democratic  party  in 
Illinois  held  all  the  departments  of  the  state  govern- 
ment, there  were  even  then  rumblings  of  the  storm 
which  came  in  1840. 

"Under  the  provisions  of  the  constitution  of  1818, 
which  was  in  force  until  superseded  by  that  of  1848,  the 
executive  officers  of  the  state  government  (with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  secretary  of  state,  who  was  appointed  by  the 
governor)  ,  the  judges  of  the  courts,  the  attorney-general 
and  the  state's  attorney  were  elected  by  the  legislature  in 
joint  session.  The  party  leaders  therefore  attended  the 
legislative  sessions,  and  the  'lobby,'  as  it  was  termed, 
was  the  theater  of  their  eloquence. 

"I  there  heard  Alexander  P.  Field,  who  afterwards 
left  the  state  and  died  in  New  Orleans ;  Abraham  Lin- 
coln;  E.  D.  Baker,  who  fell  at  Ball's  Bluff  during  the 
late  civil  war;  O.  H.  Browning,  late  secretary  of  the 
interior,  for  the  Whigs  ;  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  John 
Calhoun,  Isaac  P.  Walker,  afterwards  senator  from  Wis- 
consin, Democrats.  They  were  all  stars  of  the  first 
magnitude.  But  I  even  then  imagined  that  the  re- 
spective parties  relied  upon  Lincoln  and  Douglas  as  the 
pillars  of  their  strength. 

"Mr.  Lincoln,  in  the  speech  I  heard  him  deliver,  on 
the  occasion  I  have  mentioned,  surprised  me  by  his 


ANNIVERSARY  AT  GALESBURG.  605 

ability  and  by  his  apparent  logical  frankness.  He 
seemed  to  concede  to  his  adversary  almost  everything 
he  could  claim,  but  I  observed  that  he  always  found 
means  to  escape  the  effect  even  of  his  own  concessions. 
His  language  was  simple,  but  exact.  His  statements 
were  clear,  and  his  arguments  must  have  given  great 
satisfaction  to  the  party  he  represented.  He  asserted 
his  propositions  with  firmness  and  supported  them  in  the 
most  effective  manner. 

"Mr.  Douglas  was  then,  as  afterwards,  aggressive, 
bold  and  defiant.  He  was  quick  to  perceive  the  strong 
as  well  as  the  weak  points  of  his  adversary.  He  ap- 
proached the  strong  with  caution,  but  assailed  the  weak 
ones  with  irresistible  force.  Nor  was  he  mistaken  in 
the  strength  of  his  own  positions.  He  invited  attack 
upon  those  that  were  impregnable,  but  covered  the 
weak  ones  with  marvelous  ingenuity. 

"These  were  my  estimates  of  Lincoln  and  Douglas, 
made  perhaps  as  early  as  1839,  but  were  corrected  and 
matured  by  subsequent  acquaintance. 

"The  annexation  of  Texas,  in  1845,  and  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  large  territories  gained  by  the  United  States 
as  the  result  of  the  war  with  Mexico,  gave  in  some 
quarters  a  new  importance  to  the  subject  of  slavery. 

"The  sectional  strife  which  that  subject  occasioned 
was,  as  was  believed,  or  hoped  rather  than  believed, 
settled  by  the  passage  by  congress  of  what  were  called 
'the  compromise  measures  of  1850.' 

"Both  the  great  parties  pledged  themselves  by  the 
action  of  their  national  conventions,  in  1852,  to  main- 
tain 'the  compromise  of  1850'  as  a  final  and  satis- 
factory settlement  of  the  question  of  slavery  in  the 
United  States.  No  one  exerted  himself  more  earnestly 
and  efficiently  than  did  Mr.  Douglas  to  secure  the 
adoption  by  congress  of  the  so-called  'compromise,'  and 
the  result  was  most  favorable  to  the  Democratic  party, 
of  which  he  had  become  one  of  the  national  leaders. 
His  supporters  in  Illinois  hoped  for  his  nomination  as 


606  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  1852, 
but  he  was  defeated  by  the  almost  unknown  Franklin 
Pearce.  The  Democrats  won  an  overwhelming  victory 
in  the  November  election  of  that  year.  Winfield  Scott, 
the  Whig  candidate,  who  was  the  foremost  American 
soldier  then  living,  was  defeated. 

"But  the  permanent  success  of  the  Democratic  party 
was  destroyed  by  an  event  which  was  intended  to  insure 
its  predominance. 

"Mr.  Douglas,  then  a  senator  from  Illinois  and  chair- 
man of  the  senate  committee  on  territories,  early  in 
January,  1854,  reported  a  bill  for  the  organization  of 
the  territory  of  Nebraska.  From  the  report  accompanying 
the  bill  he  said  :  'The  principal  amendments  which  your 
committee  deemed  it  their  duty  to  commend  to  the 
favorable  action  of  the  senate,  in  a  special  report,  are 
those  in  which  the  principles  established  by  the  com- 
promise measures  of  1850,  so  far  as  they  are  applicable 
to  terrritorial  organizations,  are  proposed  to  be  affirmed 
and  carried  into  practical  operation  within  the  limits  of 
the  new  territory.' 

"With  a  view  of  conforming  their  action  to  what  they 
regard  as  the  settled  policy  of  the  government,  sanc- 
tioned by  the  approving  voice  of  the  American  people, 
your  committee  had  deemed  it  their  duty  to  incorporate 
and  perpetuate,  in  their  territorial  bill,  the  principles 
and  spirit  of  those  measures.  If  any  other  considera- 
tions were  necessary  to  render  the  propriety  of  this 
course  imperative  upon  the  committee,  they  may  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  the  Nebraska  country  occupies 
the  same  relative  position  to  the  slavery  question  as  did 
New  Mexico  and  Utah  when  those  territories  were  or- 
ganized. 

"It  was  a  disputed  point  whether  slavery  was  pro- 
hibited by  law  in  the  country  acquired  from  Mexico. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  was  contended,  as  a  legal  proposi- 
tion, that  slavery  having  been  prohibited  by  the  enact- 
ments of  Mexico,  according  to  the  law  of  nations,  we  re- 


ANNIVERSARY  AT  GALESBURG.  607 

ceived  the  country  with  all  its  laws  and  local  institu- 
tions attached  to  the  soil,  so  far  as  they  did  not  conflict 
with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  that  a 
law  either  protecting  or  prohibiting  slavery  was  not  re- 
pugnant to  that  instrument,  as  was  evidenced  by  the 
fact  that  one-half  of  the  states  of  the  Union  tolerated, 
while  the  other  half  prohibited,  the  institution  of  slavery. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  was  insisted  that,  by  virtue  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  every  citizen  had  a 
right  to  remove  to  any  territory  of  the  Union,  and  carry 
his  property  with  him  under  the  protection  of  the  law, 
whether  that  property  consisted  of  persons  or  things. 
The  difficulties  arising  from  this  diversity  of  opinion 
were  greatly  aggravated  by  the  fact  that  there  were 
many  persons  on  both  sides  of  the  legal  controversy  who 
were  unwilling  to  abide  the  decision  of  the  courts  on 
the  legal  matters  in  dispute.  Thus  among  those  who 
claimed  that  the  Mexican  laws  were  still  in  force,  and 
consequently  that  slavery  was  already  prohibited  in 
these  territories  by  valid  enactments,  there  were  many 
who  insisted  upon  congress  making  the  matter  certain 
by  enacting  another  prohibition.  In  like  manner,  some 
of  those  who  argued  that  the  Mexican  law  had  ceased  to 
have  any  binding  force,  and  that  the  constitution  toler- 
ated and  protected  slave  property  in  those  territories, 
were  unwilling  to  trust  the  decision  of  the  court  upon 
the  point,  and  insisted  that  congress  should,  by  direct 
enactment,  remove  all  legal  obstacles  to  the  introduction 
of  slaves  into  the  territories. 

"Your  committee  deem  it  fortunate  for  the  peace  of 
the  country  and  the  security  of  tlje  Union  that  the  con- 
troversy then  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  the  compromise 
measures,  which  the  two  great  political  parties,  with 
singular  unanimity,  have  affirmed  as  a  cardinal  article 
of  their  faith,  and  proclaimed  to  the  world  as  a  final  set- 
tlement of  the  controversy  and  an  end  of  the  agitation. 
A  due  respect,  therefore,  for  the  avowed  opinions  of 
other  senators,  as  well  as  a  proper  sense  of  patriotic 


608  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

duty,  enjoins  on  your  committee  the  propriety  and  ne- 
cessity of  a  strict  adherence  to  the  principles,  and  even  a 
literal  adoption  of  the  enactments,  of  that  adjustment, 
in  all  their  territorial  bills,  so  far  as  the  same  are  not 
locally  inapplicable.  These  enactments  embrace,  among 
other  things  less  material  to  the  matters  under  consider- 
ation, the  following  provisions  : 

"When  admitted  as  a  state,  the  said  territory,  or  any 
portion  of  the  same,  shall  be  received  into  the  Union 
with  or  without  slavery,  as  their  constitution  may  pre- 
scribe at  the  time  of  their  admission. 

"That  the  legislative  power  and  authority  of  said 
territory  shall  be  vested  in  the  governor  and  a  legislative 
assembly. 

"That  the  legislative  power  of  said  territory  shall  ex- 
tend to  all  rightful  subjects  of  legislation  consistent  with 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  the  provisions 
of  this  act ;  but  no  law  shall  be  passed  interfering  with 
the  primary  disposal  of  the  soil ;  no  taxes  shall  be  im- 
posed upon  the  property  of  the  United  States  ;  nor  shall 
the  land  or  other  property  4  of  nonresidents  be  taxed 
higher  than  the  lands  or  other  property  of  residents. 

"Mr.  Douglas  afterward  offered  an  amendment  to  the 
bill,  which  referred  to  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and 
declared,  'which,  being  inconsistent  with  the  principle 
of  non-intervention  by  congress  with  slavery  in  the 
states  and  territories  as  recognized  by  the  legislation  of 
1850,  commonly  called  the  compromise  measures,  is 
hereby  declared  inoperative  and  void,  it  being  the  true 
intent  and  meaning  of  this  act  not  to  legislate  slavery 
into  any  territory  or  state  nor  exclude  it  therefrom,  but 
to  leave  the  people  thereof  perfectly  free  to  frame  and 
regulate  their  domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way, 
subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.' 

"The  proposition  to  repeal  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
or  declare  it  void,  because  of  its  opposition  to  the  com- 
promise measures  of  1850.  They  yielded  to  that  measure, 
the  fugitive  slave  law,  only  to  discharge  their  obligations 


ANNIVERSARY  AT  GALESBURG.  609 

under  the  constitution  ;  but  when  it  was  proposed  to  re- 
peal the  compromise  of  1820,  or  declare  it  inoperative 
because  of  its  supposed  conflict  with  the  compromise 
of  1850,  they  were  astounded.  They  had  accepted  the 
compromise  measures  of  1850  as  a  supplement  to  that 
provision  of  the  compromise  of  1820  which  excluded 
slavery  from  the  territories  of  the  United  States  north 
of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes.  No  one  can 
doubt  that  Mr.  Douglas,  in  his  action  upon  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill,  committed  the  tactical  mistake  of  his 
lifetime.  He  relied  upon  the  strength  of  purely  partisan 
organization.  He  did  not  understand,  what  he  after- 
ward found  to  be  true,  that  the  questions  he  had  raised 
were  of  the  most  dangerous  character,  and  would  destroy 
the  Democratic  party. 

"The  language  of  his  amendment  to  the  Nebraska  bill 
presented  a  conundrum  of  almost  impossible  solution. 
It  declared  that  it  was  not  the  intention  of  the  act  to  in- 
troduce slavery  into  any  state  or  territory,  or  to  exclude 
it  therefrom,  but  to  leave  the  people  thereof  perfectly 
free  to  regulate  their  own  institutions  in  their  own  way, 
subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

"No  man  was  more  capable  of  defending  this  most  re- 
markable provision  than  was  Mr.  Douglas.  I  have 
mentioned  my  acquaintance  with  him  up  to  and  includ- 
ing 1839.  He  had  occupied  public  positions,  embracing 
twelve  years  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  and  was 
unmistakably  a  popular  leader,  who,  up  to  that  time, 
had  no  peer  in  the  state. 

"Mr.  Lincoln,  on  the  other  hand,  had  devoted  himself 
to  the  practice  of  his  profession.  His  habits  and  his 
methods  of  reasoning  had  been  formed  in  the  courts, 
where  exactness  of  statement  and  clear  and  consistent 
arguments  were  necessary.  It  was  apparent  to  men 
who  were  acquainted  with  Mr.  Douglas  and  Mr.  Lin- 
coln when  the  controversy  in  regard  to  the  Nebraska 
39 


610  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

bill  commenced,  that  they  would  be  the  leaders  in  the 
struggle. 

"I  have  observed  before,  that  as  early  as  1839  the 
leaders  of  the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties  looked  to 
Douglas  and  Lincoln  as  the  pillars  of  their  strength. 
They  were  undoubtedly  natural  rivals.  I  am  unable  to 
say,  from  anything  I  know,  how  far  mere  personal  asso- 
ciations and  possible  social  asperities  may  have  whetted 
the  spirit  of  antagonism  between  them.  In  1835,  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the  senate  of  the 
United  States,  but  at  the  subsequent  session  of  the  legis- 
lature he  was  defeated.  His  conduct  on  that  occasion 
only  added  to  his  strength  as  a  popular  leader,  and  gave 
him  the  confidence  of  a  small  party  in  the  legislature — 
'The  Anti-Nebraska  Democratic  Party.' 

"Mr.  Lincoln  had  personally  appeared  in  the  joint 
session  of  the  legislature  when  an  election  for  senator 
was  pending,  and  urged  his  friends  to  vote  for  Mr. 
Trumbull.  That  act  of  personal  disinterestedness  gave 
him  a  claim  upon  the  'Anti-Nebraska  Democracy,'  which 
they  were  fully  prepared  to  redeem  in  the  contest  of  1858. 
In  1856,  he  was  present  at  Bloomington,  and  made  a 
speech  which,  though  it  has  not  been  preserved,  was  one 
of  remarkable  power. 

"The  language  with  which  his  nomination  was  ac- 
companied was  emphatic.  It  declared  him  to  be  not 
only  the  candidate,  but  the  only  candidate,  of  the  Re- 
publican party  for  a  seat  in  the  senate  of  the  United 
States.  Thus  endorsed  and  supported,  he  met  Mr. 
Douglas  as  his  accredited  adversary.  The  correspond- 
ence which  led  to  the  debate  of  1858  is  so  familiar  to  the 
people  of  the  state  that  I  omit  it.  It  was  preliminary 
to  the  meeting  of  Douglas  and  Lincoln  at  Ottawa,  on 
August  21,  1858. 

"Perhaps,  at  this  point,  it  may  be  well  to  present  my 
estimate  of  Mr.  Douglas  and  Mr.  Lincoln  as  they  ap- 
peared to  me  just  before  the  time  of  their  meeting  at 
Ottawa.  I  think  it  is  impossible  to  overestimate  Mr. 


ANNIVERSARY  AT  GALESBURG.  611 

Douglas  as  a  popular  orator.  I  have  stated  before  that 
he  was  bold,  aggressive  and  defiant ;  that  no  man  better 
understood  the  strength  or  the  weakness  of  his  own  po- 
sition, and  no  man  could,  with  more  skill,  frame  the 
issues  upon  which  he  had  determined  to  conduct  his 
canvass. 

"Judge  Allen,  of  the  district  court  of  the  United  States 
for  the  southern  district  of  Illinois,  who  was  an  earnest 
friend  and  supporter  of  Judge  Douglas,  said  to  me  in  a 
recent  letter :  'Judge  Douglas  was  the  beau  ideal  orator, 
statesman  and  politician  of  the  young  Democrats  of  the 
the  state  at  that  time,  and  easily  the  first  in  the  estima- 
tion of  all  members  of  the  party  in  Illinois,  without  ref- 
erence to  age  or  circumstances. 

"  'Judge  Douglas,  as  you  know,  always  mapped 
out  his  own  campaign,  framed  his  own  issues  and  sup- 
ported them  with  unequaled  power.  His  speech  from 
the  balcony  of  the  Tremont  House,  in  July  of  that  year, 
was  on  lines  drawn  by  himself,  and  from  them  he  never 
deviated  substantially  until  the  contest  closed,  resulting 
in  his  success.' 

"Mr.  Lincoln,  on  the  other  hand<  accustomed,  from 
his  professional  habits,  to  accurate  reasoning,  was  com- 
pelled from  the  necessities  of  his  situation  to  exert  him- 
self to  force  Judge  Douglas  to  a  definition  of  the  real 
meaning  of  the  Nebraska  bill,  and  to  a  clear  statement 
of  his  own  opinion  of  the  effect  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  in  its  operations  upon  the  territories 
with  respect  to  the  admission  of  slavery.  To  that  result 
he  directed  all  his  efforts.  How  well  he  succeeded  will 
appear  from  Mr.  Douglas's  speech  at  Freeport. 

"It  will  be  observed  further  in  the  progress  of  this  de- 
bate that  Mr.  Douglas  professed  absolute  indifference  to 
the  extension  of  slavery  into  the  territories.  He  seemed 
only  anxious  that  the  white  people  of  the  territories 
should  exercise  their  own  judgment  upon  that  question, 
and  appeared  to  be  oblivious  to  the  fact  that  the  public 
mind  had  reached  the  condition  that  the  existence  of 


612  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

slavery  in  Kansas  and  Nebraska  had  become  one  of  the 
great  sectional  points  of  controversy. 

"From  this  point  I  will  consider  the  several  speeches 
made  by  Mr.  Douglas  and  Mr.  Lincoln  (commencing  on 
August  21st,  at  Ottawa,  and  terminating  at  Alton,  Oc- 
tober 15, 1858)  ,  simply  with  reference  to  the  great  quali- 
ties of  those  two  eminent  men.  I  ought  further  to  re- 
mark that  some  of  the  questions  considered  by  them 
were  disposed  of  by  the  civil  war,  to  which  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say,  the  debate  may  be  regarded  as  the  mere 
preliminary. 

"Slavery  no  longer  exists  in  the  United  States  ;  there- 
fore it  must  be  held  that  upon  that  question  the  views 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  have  prevailed  over  those  advanced  by 
Mr.  Douglas.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  public 
conscience  of  Illinois,  even  as  early  as  1858,  revolted 
against  the  theories  of  Mr.  Douglas  as  to  the  right  of  all 
men  to  liberty  and  equality  before  law.  In  addition  to 
that,  Judge  Douglas  evidently  entertained  expectations 
of  future  political  advancement  which  could  only  be 
secured  by  the  harmony  and  unity  of  the  Democratic 
party. 

"In  order  to  promote  that  end  he  seized  hold  of  the 
doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty,  largely  modified  by  the 
constitutional  theory  of  the  rights  of  the  states,  two 
propositions  irreconcilable  and  diverse  in  their  influence 
upon  the  slavery  question.  The  right  of  the  states  in 
which  slavery  then  existed  to  maintain  slavery  and  de- 
fend it  by  their  constitutions  and  their  laws  was  admitted 
by  both  parties  to  the  great  debate.  The  equality  of  the 
states,  as  asserted  by  Mr.  Douglas,  carried  with  it  con- 
sequences that  were  at  no  time  defined  with  such  ac- 
curacy as  to  prevent  the  mischievous  consequences  that 
all  were  equal  in  the  territory,  and  every  right  of  property 
recognized  by  the  states,  attended  citizens  of  the  several 
states  in  emigrating  to  new  territorial  acquisition. 

"Undoubtedly  Mr.  Douglas  fe.lt  the  difficulties  of  his 
position,  and  he  exhibited  the  highest  qualities  as  a  de- 


ANNIVERSARY  AT  GALESBURG.  613 

bater  in  eluding  his  logical  embarrassments.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln pressed  those  apparent  inconsistencies  upon  him 
with  great  force,  and  there  are  but  few  better  examples 
during  the  history  of  oratory  than  are  afforded  by  these 
remarkable  debates. 

"Still  it  will  be  perceived  that  as  the  debates  pro- 
gressed the  real  points  of  controversy,  not  only  between 
Douglas  and  Lincoln  as  rival  candidates,  but  the  issues 
between  the  sections  of  the  Union,  the  supporters  and 
the  assailants  of  slavery  were  found  and  denned. 

"I  have  said  that  Mr.  Douglas  was  embarrassed  by 
what  was  apparent  to  all,  the  difficulty  of  harmonizing 
what  may  be  justly  called  the  Northern  and  Southern 
Democratic  view  of  the  system  of  slavery. 

"He  himself,  in  his  report  upon  the  Nebraska  bill, 
had  stated  the  different  views  entertained  by  different 
parties  in  different  sections  of  the  Union.  He  sought  to 
find  ground  for  a  new  compromise  of  the  slavery  ques- 
tion, and  he  supposed  he  had  done  so  in  the  doctrine 
which  he  asserted,  of  the  right  of  the  people  to  regulate 
their  own  institutions  in  their  own  way,  subject  only  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  ;  or,  as  he  stated 
the  same  doctrine  in  his  Alton  speech,  that  'the  people 
of  the  territory,  like  those  of  the  state,  shall  decide  for 
themselves  whether  slavery  shall  or  shall  not  exist  in 
their  limits.' 

"This  statement  of  the  doctrine  by  no  means  solved 
the  difficulty  nor  did  it  meet  the  public  judgment.  It 
was  still  a  subject  of  popular  inquiry ;  what  is  the  true 
and  proper  construction  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  with  reference  to  the  existence  of  slavery  in  the 
territories?  It  was  asked,  can  the  people,  by  the  action 
of  the  territorial  legislature,  admit  or  exclude  slavery 
from  the  territories?  Or,  is  it  the  true  interpretation  of 
the  constitution,  that  while  the  territories  remain  com- 
mon property,  the  constitution  carries  slavery  into  the 
territory  as  incidental  to  the  rights  of  the  states  in  which 
slavery  existed?  Mr.  Douglas  was  never  able  to  answer 


614  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

that,  and  similar  questions  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
popular  mind. 

"In  the  Freeport  speech,  in  reply  to  the  question  pro- 
pounded to  him  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  he  maintained  that 
even  though  slaves  under  the  constitution  might  be 
carried  into  the  territories,  friendly  legislation  might  be 
adopted  for  the  protection  of  the  institution,  or  it  could 
be  excluded  by  the  failure  of  the  territorial  legislature 
to  provide  police  regulations  for  its  protection. 

"These  views  advanced  by  Mr.  Douglas  satisfied 
neither  of  the  parties  to  the  controversy.  The  pro- 
slavery  party  (I  use  now  a  term  long  since  obsolete) 
were  not  satisfied,  and  denounced  the  doctrine  among 
unfriendly  legislation,  as  being  as  objectionable  to  the 
assertion  of  the  right  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  terri- 
tories by  local  legislation ;  while  to  the  anti-slavery 
party,  the  theory  that  slaves  could  be  taken  into  the  ter- 
ritories and  retained  there  until  excluded  by  territorial 
action,  practically  yielded  the  whole  question.  A  care- 
ful reader  of  the  speeches  of  Mr.  Douglas  delivered  dur- 
ing the  great  debate  will  perceive  the  difficulties  which 
surrounded  him,  and  observe  the  remarkable  argument- 
ative strength  he  exhibited  in  his  attempt  to  reconcile 
propositions  so  embarrassing. 

"After  the  Freeport  speech,  the  positions  of  Mr. 
Douglas  and  Mr.  Lincoln  were  changed.  At  Ottawa, 
Mr.  Douglas  was  the  assailant,  and  undoubtedly  the 
speeches  there  terminated  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  disadvantage. 

"At  Freeport,  Mr.  Douglas  was  driven  to  definitions, 
and  from  that  time  forth  Mr.  Lincoln  took  the  offensive. 
It  has  been  said  by  a  great  military  writer  that  a  purely 
defensive  war  is  rarely  successful ;  and  so  it  is  in  great 
intellectual  contests. 

"In  1858,  slavery  in  the  United  States  reached  its 
greatest  strength.  It  was  even  then  condemned  in  the 
northern  states  of  the  Union,  not  only  as  a  wrong  in 
itself,  but  it  had  come  to  be  feared  as  a  menace  to  the 
peace  and  integrity  of  the  Union.  In  the  South,  many 


ANNIVERSARY  AT  GALESBURG.  615 

opposed  the  institution  on  moral  grounds,  while  still 
other  practical  men  had  reached  the  conclusion  that  as  a 
system  of  labor  it  was  wasteful,  and,  as  compared  with 
modern  methods  of  industry,  no  longer  profitable. 
These  considerations  greatly  increased  the  embarrass- 
ment of  Mr.  Douglas.  From  his  great  eminence  as  a 
party  leader,  his  contest  with  Mr.  Lincoln  was  closely 
observed  by  political  leaders  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 

"Mr.  Buchanan  and  his  cabinet  did  not  conceal  their 
desire  for  his  overthrow.  The  southern  leaders  were 
prepared  to  be  dissatisfied  with  whatever  course  he 
might  think  proper  to  pursue,  and  perhaps  nothing  in 
our  political  history  can  be  found  to  equal  the  magnifi- 
cent struggle  made  by  him  in  the  last  and  greatest  battle 
of  his  life. 

"Mr.  Lincoln  entered  upon  the  contest  of  1858  with- 
out the  fullest  confidence  of  even  his  own  supporters.  I 
remember  the  trepidation  of  the  anti-slavery  party,  occa- 
sioned by  his  celebrated  declaration  that  'a  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand.'  It  was  expected  by  many 
of  those  who  desired  his  success  that  he  would  fail  in 
his  contest  with  Douglas,  and  it  was  only  after  repeated 
essays  which  he  had  given  of  his  power  that  he  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  full  confidence  of  his  supporters. 
I  think  it  is  apparent  in  the  earlier  speeches  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln that  he  felt  the  want  of  the  full  confidence  of  his 
party  adherents,  and  I  think  it  can  be  perceived  that  he 
grew  bolder  as  he  became  more  conscious  of  his  own 
power  and  received  a  larger  share  of  the  confidence  of 
his  friends.  I  trust,  in  what  I  have  said,  as  well  as 
what  I  will  say  hereafter,  I  have  kept  within  the  line  of 
just  and  proper  appreciation  of  the  intellectual  and 
logical  forces  exhibited  by  these  great  leaders  of  the 
contest  of  1858.  I  knew  them  both  and  esteemed  them 
both,  although  I  confess  that,  while  the  preliminaries  of 
the  discussion  were  being  arranged,  I  doubted  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's ability  to  cope  with  Mr.  Douglas. 

"That  series  of  discussions,  which  I  have  called  a 


616  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

mere  continuous  debate,  is  historic,  and  it  made  history. 
Mr.  Douglas,  who  had  been  the  idol  of  the  Democracy 
of  Illinois,  and  was  without  doubt  the  greatest  man  of 
his  party  in  the  United  States,  yielding  to  the  influences 
which  surrounded  him  at  Washington,  and  forgetful  of 
what  he  so  well  said  on  another  occasion,  'I  never  knew 
the  Democratic  party  to  fail  in  one  of  its  principles,  out 
of  policy  or  expediency,  that  it  did  not  pay  the  debt  with 
sorrow,'  attempted  that  which  is  always  dangerous  to  a 
political  party  which  is  in  the  possession  of  power — he 
attempted  to  make  a  new  issue  for  the  consideration  of 
American  people.  If  it  had  been  possible  at  that  time 
to  have  made  the  question  of  slavery  in  the  states,  or  of 
its  extension,  by  the  occult  force  of  the  constitution, 
into  the  territories,  and  had  it  admitted  of  exact  defini- 
tion and  a  clear  declaration  of  its  purposes,  it  might 
have  succeeded ;  but  it  was  apparent,  even  in  1858,  that 
what  was  known  as  the  slave  power  was  determined  to 
defend  that  system,  even  to  the  extent  of  the  overthrow 
of  the  Union,  and  the  North  was  aroused  and  equally 
determined  that  slavery  in  the  United  States  should 
never  be  allowed  to  enter  any  of  the  territories.  Be- 
tween parties  thus  resolved,  no  compromise  was  possible, 
no  makeshift,  no  scheme  could  be  devised  which  would 
state  the  recognized  propositions  of  the  sections.  In 
1868,  Mr.  Lincoln  by  no  means  satisfied  the  extreme 
men  who  considered  themselves  to  be  his  supporters,  in 
that  he  failed,  as  much  as  Mr.  Douglas  did,  to  satisfy 
the  southern  element  of  his  own  political  party.  The 
debate  defined  the  real  points  of  difference  between  the 
advocates  and  opponents  of  slavery  extension  ;  it  dis- 
closed the  chasm  which  separated  sections. 

"Mr.  Douglas  succeeded  in  securing  a  re-election  to 
the  senate  ;  Mr.  Lincoln,  as  the  result  of  his  part  in  the 
discussion,  became  the  leader  of  a  great  and  powerful 
party.  Mr.  Douglas,  disappointed  in  his  expectations 
of  the  presidency  in  1860,  accepted  the  result  of  the 
election  of  his  successful  rival,  and  when  the  seces- 


ANNIVERSARY  AT  GALESBURG.  617 

sionists  attempted  to  overthrow  the  Union  he  became 
the  champion  of  the  national  union.  His  speeches  in 
Illinois  in  1861  were  magnificent  in  their  power ;  they 
were  sublime  in  their  patriotism ;  and  he  died  in  June, 
1861,  giving  his  last  words  and  his  last  thoughts  to  his 
country.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  to  the  presidency, 
was  called  by  the  American  people  to  lead  them  out 
from  the  domination  of  an  arrogant  section ;  he  was 
true  to  his  mission  and  died  the  death  of  a  martyr.  He 
said  to  me  once  :  'I  have  no  policy,  my  hope  is  to  serve 
the  Union ;  I  do  the  best  I  can  to-day  with  the  hope 
that  when  to-morrow  comes  I  am  ready  for  its  duty.'  " 

"We  proceeded  to  Chicago  on  the  8th  of  October  and 
witnessed  the  procession  of  the  'Sound  Money'  men 
from  the  balcony  of  the  Palmer  House.  "We  met  Gen- 
eral Buckuer  there  and  left  that  night  for  Lansing, 
Grand  Rapids  and  Detroit,  arriving  there  on  Sunday 
morning  and  were  entertained  until  Monday  night  at 
the  delightful  home  of  the  late  Postmaster-General 
Don  Dickinson.  We  proceeded  thence  to  Cincinnati, 
and  from  there  to  Louisville  and  Nashville,  where  I 
learned  an  important  fact  which  demonstrated  the 
wisdom  of  the  course  I  had  adopted  in  September,  1862 
(as  has  been  mentioned) ,  in  arresting  citizens  in  the 
streets  of  Franklin,  Tenn.,  and  holding  them  as  hostages 
for  the  safety  of  my  train  and  stragglers.  Colonel 
Marshall,  son  of  the  old  lawyer  John  Marshall,  with 
whom  I  became  acquainted  on  this  trip,  told  me  that 
the  Rebel  cavalry  was  formed  and  ready  to  make  an 
attack  on  my  trains,  which  consisted  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  wagons,  but  when  they  were  told  that  I  had 
taken  twenty  citizens  as  hostages  for  the  good  conduct 
of  the  people  of  that  village  they  forbore  to  attack  the 
train.  He  said,  however,  that  'the  whisky  suffered' 
when  the  hostages  got  back.  I  have  told  in  another 
chapter  the  story  of  Major  Scarrett  arresting  a  group 
of  citizens.  I  only  knew  there  was  no  attack,  and  the 
people  and  the  wagons  passed  through  Franklin  safely. 


618  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

We  spoke  in  Columbia  and  Pulaski  to  many  people,  and 
at  Birmingham  at  a  noonday  meeting.  We  spoke  at 
Mobile  and  New  Orleans,  and  everywhere  in  the  South 
were  received  with  respect  and  hospitality. 

"While  in  Jackson,  Mississippi,  I  learned  that  the 
process  of  selecting  voters  in  that  state  was  for  the 
registration  officers  to  give  to  a  white  man  whose  literary 
qualifications  were  supposed  to  be  'shady'  the  benefit  of 
interpreting  a  clause  in  the  federal  constitution,  which 
means  no  more  than  that  the  'right  of  trial  by  jury  shall 
remain  inviolate,'  with  the  suggestion  that  if  accused  of 
crime  he  had  a  right  of  trial  by  jury. 

"While  to  a  negro  was  given  the  following  clause  : 
'No  state  shall  pass  ex-post  facto  law,  nor  a  law  impairing 
the  obligations  of  contracts;'  of  which  one  negro  said, 
when  asked  if  he  understood  the  clause,  'Yessah,  it 
means  white  man  can  vote,  and  nigger  can't.'  The 
amended  constitution  of  North  Carolina  has,  I  under- 
stand, a  similar  provision. 

From  New  Orleans  we  returned  to  Chicago  by  way  of 
Illinois  Central  Railroad.  At  Chicago  I  separated  from 
General  Buckner  in  order  to  attend  the  funeral  of  Rev. 
George  Stevens,  my  brother-in-law,  who  lived  at  Bloom- 
ington. 

"General  Buckner  afterwards  visited  Milwaukee  and 
spoke  at  many  points  in  Wisconsin,  and  I  rejoined  him  at 
Saint  Paul,  Minnesota.  After  speaking  there  and  at 
Minneapolis  we  came  to  Omaha  and  across  Iowa,  de- 
livering addresses  at  Ottumwa,  Mt.  Pleasant  (where 
notwithstanding  a  heavy  rain  we  were  hospitably  enter- 
tained) and  Burlington,  and  from  there  to  Kansas  City 
by  the  way  of  Hannibal,  Fayette  and  Sedalia.  At  this 
place  General  Buckner  left  me  as  he  had  an  engagement 
to  go  to  Louisville.  I  spoke  at  Warrensburg  and  Kansas 
City  and  returned  to  St.  Louis,  witnessed  the  parade  of 
the  'Sound  Money'  men  in  that  city  and  in  the  evening 
spoke  to  a  large  audience  in  the  exposition  building. 

"On  November  4,  1896,  the  questions  which  had  been 


JOHN    M.    PALMER 
TAKEN,  APRIL,  1899. 


ANNIVERSARY  AT  GALESBURG.  619 

discussed  were  settled  at  the  polls,  and  William  McKin- 
ley  was  elected  president  of  the  United  States.  There 
is  no  doubt  but  that  the  National  Democratic  party 
played  an  important  part  in  this  campaign.  It  was  our 
mission  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  the  Democratic  prin- 
ciples. We  declared  the  true  Democratic  doctrines  in 
the  platform  adopted  at  Indianapolis  and  in  all  our  pub- 
lic utterances  we  sustained  them.  We  received  but 
130,000  votes  but  we  gave  direction  to  a  public  senti- 
ment which  led  to  the  election  of  Mr.  McKinley.  The 
'slave  power  had  reached  the  maximum  of  its  strength 
in  1856;'  and  the  dogma  of  'free  silver  coined  at  the 
ratio  of  sixteen  to  one'  will  be  banished  from  Demo- 
cratic platforms  with  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Bryan." 


620  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

Anniversary  of  the  Bloomington  Convention  of  1856 — Old  politics — 

Deaths. 

On  May  29,  1900,  I  attended  the  forty-fourth  anniver- 
sary of  the  Bloomington  convention.  It  was  a  memorial 
occasion,  and  was  held  at  Bloomington,  Illinois,  un- 
der the  auspices  of  the  "McLean  County  Historical 
Society." 

The  convention  of  1856  amounted  in  fact  to  the  first 
Republican  state  convention,  but  was  called  by  those 
opposed  to  the  Nebraska  bill. 

It  was  a  combination  of  delegates  from  the  different 
counties  of  the  state  and  a  mass  meeting,  for  many  men 
took  part  in  the  convention  who  were  not  delegates. 

I  was  the  president  of  that  convention,  and,  upon  in- 
vitation of  Messrs.  Geo.  P.  Davis  and  E.  M.  Prince,  I 
attended  the  memorial  meeting. 

Until  the  suggestion  of  the  anniversary  meeting,  I 
had  no  idea  that  death  had  called  so  many  of  my  friends 
and  associates.  I  knew  that  Bissell,  who  was  nominated 
by  the  convention  for  governor ;  Hoffman,  nominated 
for  lieutenant-governor,  and  afterwards  found  to  be  inel- 
igible, and  was  succeeded  by  John  "Wood  in  his  candidacy  ; 
0.  M.  Hatch,  who  was  nominated  for  secretary  of  state  ; 
Jesse  K.  Du  Bois,  for  auditor ;  James  Miller,  for  treas- 
urer, and  Wm.  H.  Powell,  superintendent  of  public  in- 
struction, were  dead.  I  knew  that  Judd  and  Cook,  Allen 
and  Baker,  elected  as  Anti-Nebraska  Democrats,  with 
myself,  to  the  general  assembly  in  1854,  and  who  held 
the  balance  of  power  in  the  election  of  a  senator  in  1855, 
no  longer  lived.  I  knew  that  Owen  Lovejoy,  John  F. 
Farnsworth,  Archibald  Williams,  O.  H.  Browning  and 
Richard  Yates  had  passed  away.  I  knew  that  Abraham 
Lincoln,  the  principal  figure  of  that  convention,  had  been 


BLOOMINGTON  CONVENTION— POLITICS— DEATHS.       621 

assassinated,  but  I  was  not  prepared  for  so  many  deaths 
among  the  delegates  and  those  who  visited  the  conven- 
tion. 

Delegates  were  appointed  to  the  Republican  conven- 
tion, which  was  to  be  held  at  Philadelphia,  at  which 
John  C.  Fremont  and  Wm.  M.  Dayton  were  nominated 
for  the  presidency  and  vice-presidency. 

As  a  delegate,  I  attended  the  national  convention ;  my 
personal  associates  were  :  Mr.  Geo.  Schneider,  who  sur- 
vives ;  General  W.  H.  L.  Wallace,  killed  at  the  battle  of 
Pittsburg  Landing;  Dr.  Arnold  and  Harvey  C.  Johns, 
both  of  whom  died  at  their  homes — Dr.  Johns,  within 
the  last  year. 

At  this  memorial  meeting,  we  called  the  roll  of  the 
convention  of  1856,  but  echo  answered  to  most  of  the 
names  called. 

We  had  with  us :  B.  F.  Shaw,  Thomas  J.  Henderson, 
Dr.  Wm.  Jayne,  James  M.  Ruggles,  Paul  Selby,  and  a 
few  others  ;  and  we  knew  that  John  H.  Bryant,  of  Prince- 
ton, still  survives,  burdened  with  age.  We  heard  of  a 
delegate  from  Pike  county,  who  had  removed  to  Missouri. 
A  paper  from  J.  L.  Morrison,  of  Morgan,  was  read  by 
his  son-in-law,  the  son  of  a  delegate  from  Pike  county, 
Dr.  Thomas  Worthington ;  also,  a  paper  from  John  G. 
Nicolay,  who  represented  Pike  county  as  a  delegate,  and 
is  now  a  resident  of  Washington  City.  The  meeting  of 
the  survivors  of  1856  was  devoted  to  the  discussion  of 
old  politics.  How  wonderful  are  the  changes  between 
the  political  issues  of  that  day  and  the  present.  At  that 
time,  the  slave  power  had  reached  the  maximum  of  its 
strength  ;  it  threatened  to  invade  the  state  and  territories 
which  were  declared  free  by  the  Missouri  compromise 
act  of  1820. 

The  convention  at  Bloomington  adopted  a  platform 
which  asserted  the  power  of  congress  to  prohibit  slavery 
in  the  free  territories,  and  demanded  the  admission  of 
Kansas  into  the  Union  with  a  free  constitution.  Gov- 
ernor Reeder  was  there,  and  Mrs.  Robinson,  who  had 


622  THE  STORY  OF  AN  EARNEST  LIFE. 

suffered  much  in  Kansas.  The  civil  war  ensued,  and 
Mr.  Lincoln  had  an  opportunity  of  reversing  the  most 
emphatic  saying  in  all  his  speeches,  "A  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand  ; ' '  and  of  enforcing  one  of 
his  grandest  utterances,  "We  will  not  divide  the  Union, 
and  you  shall  not ;"  and  I,  as  I  have  said,  had  the  honor 
of  "driving  the  last  nail"  into  the  coffin  of  slavery  in  , 
Kentucky. 


INDEX. 


Abolition,  48. 

Abolitionism,  63,  68. 

Abolitionists,  &9,  68,  73. 

Act  to  amend  the  charter  of  the  city  of 
Golconda,  291. 

Act  to  fund  and  provide  for  payment  of 
railroad  debts,  etc.,  312. 

Act  to  amend  the  manner  of  applying 
for  reprieves,  commutations  and  par- 
dons, vetoed,  308;  reasons  for  veto, 
309-311. 

Adams,  John,  2,  3. 

Adams,  of  Kane,  motion,  47. 

Address  of  the  Democratic  committee 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
407-409. 

Address  to  the  colored  people  of  Spring- 
field, 324-329;  advocates  suffrage,  330, 
331. 

Against  alteration  of  the  constitution 
by  construction,  532. 

Aiken,  Mr.,  offered  a  resolution,  49. 

Aledo,  Mercer  county,  veto  an  act  to  in- 
corporate, 293. 

Allen,  George  T.,  72. 

Allen,  Captain  John,  at  Raisin  river,  3. 

Allen,  Judge,  opinion  of  Douglas,  611. 

Allen,  James  C.,  nominated  for  gov- 
ernor, 80;  defeated  E.  C.  Ingersoll, 
140. 

Allen,  Mr.,  of  Washington,  535. 

Allen,  Mr.,  of  Kentucky,  member  of  the 
house  of  representatives,  introduced 
a  resolution,  256. 

Alton,  mention,  11;  debate  between  Lin- 
coln and  Douglas,  601. 

Alton,  Upper,  manual  labor  school,  16. 

Anderson,  General  "Tom.."  member  of 
the  returning  board,  398,  899. 

Anderson,  guerrilla.  95. 

"Anti-Nebraska  Democrat,"  72. 

Anti-Nebraska  Democratic  party,  601. 

"Anti-slavery  extension  con vention,"  72. 

Army  of  the  Cumberland,  196. 

Army  of  the  Cumberland  begins  to  ar- 
rive, 139. 

Army  of  the  Mississippi,  near  Farming- 
ton,  Mississippi,  109. 

Army  of  the  Potomac,  interfered  with 
by  civilians,  196. 

Army,  left  wing  of.  how  composed,  143. 

Arroyo,  Oscar,  resignation  of,  397. 

Assumed  the  dutiesof  office  of  governor ; 
oath  administered  by  Honorable 
Sidney  E.  Breese,  284. 

Atlanta  campaign  commenced,  201; 
forces  composing  it,  202. 

Baird's  division,  181. 

Baker,  Colonel  E.  D.,  37;  fell  at  Ball's 

Bluff,  601. 

Baker,  Henry  S.,72. 
Baldwin,  Henorable  Elmer,  chairman 

of  the  board  of  public  charities,  346. 
Baltimore,  spoke  at,  600. 
Ballinger,  Daniel    M.,  delegate   to  the 

peace   convention,  85;    minister   to 

Spain,  85. 


Barbecue  in  Kentucky,  2. 

Battle  of  December  30th,  145. 

Bateman,  Dr.  Newton,  "  beloved  by  all," 
601. 

Beckwith,  Mr.  (of  Wyoming).  534,  535. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.  and  Jessee,  affair 
with  Jackson,  125. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  76,  candidate  for 
governor,  76. 

Bethalto,  an  act  to  incorporate,  293. 

Bigler,  William,  visitor  from  Pennsyl- 
vania to  Louisiana,  399. 

Bissel,  Wm.  H.,  nominated  for  gov- 
ernor, 73;  reinterment  of,  332. 

"  Black  Republican,"  75. 

Black  Hawk  war,  13. 

Blair,  Frank  P.,  affair  at  Camp  Jack- 
son. 92. 

Bloomington,  Illinois,  25:  memorial  con- 
vention, 620;  "called  the  roll,"  621; 
changes  between  the  political  issues 
of  that  day  and  this,  621;  "The  last 
nail  d  riven  into  the  coffi  n  of  slavery, " 
621;  veto  an  act  concerning  the  city 
of,  290. 

Blowing  Springs,  an  amusing  incident, 
116. 

"Board  and  washing,"  26. 

Bond,  Mr.,  introduces  a  bill  prohibiting 
free  uegroes  from  being  brought 
into  the  state. 

Boone,  Isaiah,  school  teacher,  4. 

Bout  well,  George  S.,  member  of  the 
peace  convention,  85;  member  of 
Grant's  cabinet,  85. 

Bowling  Green,  occupied  by  Rebel 
troops,  95. 

Border  ruffians,  94. 

Boyle,  John,  chief-justice,  6. 

Bradford,  John  S.,  present  to  greet  you, 
435.  • 

Bragg's  movement,  172. 

Bray  man,  Mason,  sent  to  Cairo,  91. 

Breckenridge,  Dr.  Robert  J.,  Union 
man,  231. 

Breckenridge,  Colonel  R.  J.,  arrested, 
231. 

Bredan,  James,  associate.  55. 

Breed,  Sands  N.  24. 

Breese,  Honorable  Sidney  E.,  37;  ad- 
ministers oath  of  office  to  the  gov- 
ernor, 284. 

Brisbane,  General  James  S.,  twice  men- 
tioned, 241. 

Brown,  Gratz,  76. 

Brothers,  a  Kentuckian,  269;  killed  by 
Frank  James,  270. 

Bronson,  Green  C.,  member  of  the  peace 
convention,  85. 

Browne,  Judge,  signs  my  license,  31. 

Browning,  O.  H.,  late  secretary  of  the 
interior,  601,  631-637. 

Brownlow,  "  Parson,"  124. 

Bryan,  William  J.,  nominated  for  the 
"  presidency,  591. 

Brookville,  Missouri,  93. 

Buchanan,  President,  forbids  the  parade 
of  troops,  88. 

(623) 


624 


INDEX. 


Buchanan's  creek,  116. 

Buckner,  Mr.,  member  of  the  house,  in- 
troduces resolution,  257. 

"  Buck-tails,"  154. 

Buckner,  General  Simon  B.,  rumors 
that  he  has  taken  Green  river,  131; 
selected  as  vice-president,  597. 

Buell,  General,  to  meet  Bragg,  124;  in 
Kentucky.  138. 

Burbridge,  General,  267. 

Burke,  Major,  65. 

Butler,  William,  defeated  for  treasurer 
of  state,  140. 

Butler,  the  sagacious  and  firm,  435. 

Buzzard  Roost  Gap,  200. 

Caffery,  Senator,  notifies  the  candidate 
for  presidency  of  nomination,  597. 

"Cake  and  spruce  beer,'  20. 

Calhoun,  John,  31,  601. 

Calhoun,  John  C.,  125. 

Campbell,  of  Jo.  Daviess,  51. 

Canal  redemption  fund,  355. 

Canton,  Missouri,  ordered  to,  93. 

Camp  Dick  Robinson,  bloody  battle  at, 
134. 

Carlinville,  Illinois,  visit,  96;  home  of 
my  brother,  24,  25. 

Carr,  General  Clarke  E.,  at  Galesburg,  601. 

Carrying  a  pistol,  75. 

Carondelet.  The,  gunboat.  99. 

Cazenave,  Mr.,  member  of  the  returning 
board,  397-399. 

Chandler,  Mr.,  of  New  Hampshire,  quo- 
tation from  his  speech  in  reply  to 
Mr.  Palmer,  491;  discussion  in  sen- 
ate, 492. 

Charleston,  Illinois,  debate  between 
Lincoln  and  Douglas,  601. 

Chase,  Governor,  his  ambition,  159. 

Chattanooga,  retreat  to,  188. 

Chestnut,  John  A.,  28,  29;  defends  the 
Todds  in  a  murder  trial,  34. 

Chicago  fire,  The,  first  tidings,  343;  tele- 
gram to  Colonel  R.  B.  Mason,  343- 
346;  military  command  in  the  city, 
357;  proclamation  and  telegrams, 
368-371;  Chicago  relief  and  aid  so- 
ciety, 372,  373;  fire  ceased,  374;  close 
of  the  correspondence,  377;  letter  to 
President  Grant,  366,  367;  letter  from 
president  to  the  governor,.368. 

Chickamauga,  battle  of,  181-186;  organi- 
zation of  army  corps  broken  up,  186; 
reason  of  defeat,  187;  operations  that 
led  to  it,  169. 

Childs,  Lieutenant.  106. 

Circular  No.  3.  259,  260;  No.  6,  amend- 
ment of  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  prohibiting  slavery  in 
United  States,  256. 

Chittenden,  L.  E.,  reporter  at  the  peace 
convention,  84. 

Clay,  Henry.  2,  3. 

Cleveland,  President,  letter  addressed 
to,  558. 

Cloud,  Newton,  president  of  the  conven- 
tion of  1847,  43. 

Cloud,  George  A.  W.,  brother  of  Newton, 
55. 

Cobb,  secretary,  resigned,  88. 

Cockerell,  James,  Populist  member  of 
the  legislature,  474. 

"Commonwealth  of  Kentucky  v.  John 
M.  Palmer,"  244. 

Complaining  of  the  mayor  and  commit- 
tee of  Louisville,  237. 

Commissioners  to  Louisiana  (Republi- 
can), Charles  B.  Lawrence,  Wayne 
McVeigh,  John  M.  Harlan,  Joseph 
R.  Hawley,  John  C.  Brown,  429. 


Constitution  of  1848,  317;  of  1870.  317. 

Constitutional  convention  of  1847, 43;  ju- 
dicial organization,  43;  incorpora- 
tion of  banks,  43-46;  circulation  of 
paper  money,  45;  dueling  clause,  54. 

Constitutional  convention  of  1870,  316. 

Cook,  Burton  C.,  72,  member  of  the 
peace  convention,  84. 

Corning,  Erastus,  member  of  the  peace 
convention,  85. 

Correspondence  with  committee  from 
the  state  senate  of  Kentucky,  257, 258. 

County  clerk,  candidate  for,  28. 

Courts,  "Old  and  New,"  6. 

Crafts,  Honorable  Clayton  E.,  speaker  of 
the  house,  474. 

"Cripple  Creek,"  149. 

Crittenden,  General,  joins  Thomas  and 
McCook,  172;  commands  left  wing  of 
the  army,  141;  corps  commander,  143. 

Cruft,  Charles,  commander  of  the  first 
division,  140,  145. 

Cullom,  Mr.,  addresses  the  colored 
people,  325. 

Curtin,  A.  G.,  member  of  the  returning 
board  from  Pennsylvania,  399. 

Dalton,  Georgia,  evacuated  by  Johnston, 
203. 

Dana,  Honorable  Charles  A.,  sends  him 
impressions  in  regard  to  elections, 
250,  251. 

Davis,  David,  81;  elected  to  the  United 
States  senate,  431;  allusion  to  his 
death,  438. 

Davis,  Jim,  a  remarkable  case,  273. 

Davis,  George,  member  of  the  peace 
convention;  attorney-general  of  the 
Confederate  government,  85. 

Dartmouth  College  case,  284. 

Democrats,  73. 

Democratic  convention  met,  395. 

Democratic  committee  write  a  letter  re- 
gretting the  Republican  committee 
will  not  confer  with  them,  402-405; 
correspondence  with  the  Republican 
chairman,  406,  407. 

Democratic  national  convention,  "so- 
called:"  platform  for  free  silver,  591 : 

Democratic  state  convention  of  1892; 
purpose  of  "snap  "  convention,  589. 

Depew,  Honorable  Chauncey,  makes  an 
address,  601. 

Dilger,  Captain,  "  Leather  Breeches  "  of 
Army  of  the  Cumberland,  203. 

Dilger,  Colonel,  Adjutant-General,  345; 
telegram  to,  347;  telegram  from,  348; 
mention,  361. 

Discharged  from  the  indictments,  246. 

Divisions  composing  the  14th  Army 
Corps,  Brigadier-General  Richard  W. 
Johnson,  1st;  Brigadier  -  General 
Jeff.  C.  Davis,  2d ;  Brigadier-General 
Absolam  Baird,  3d,  198. 

Donelson,  Fort,  capture  of,  95. 

Doolittle,  J.  R.,  of  Wisconsin,  399. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  first  meeting  with, 
24, 30,  31,  37;  license  drawn  up  by,  30; 
interview  at  Willard's,  89,  90;  died 
at  Chicago,  90;  supreme  in  his  party, 
64;  conversation  at  Carlinville,  69. 

"  Douglas  Linen  Company,"  291. 

Drummer  boy  killed,  107. 

Dubois,  "  the  rugged,  generous,"  435. 

Dubois,  Honorable  Fred.  T.,  senator 
from  Idaho,  475;  election  contested, 
475. 

Duck  river,  crossing  of,  120. 

"Dry  Fork,"  48. 


I    Earthquakes  of  1818,  97. 


INDEX. 


625 


Edwards,  of  Madison,  controversy  with 

Campbell,  51-53. 

Edwardsville,  Illinois,  11. 12,  25. 
Eighteenth  Illinois  Infantry,  21. 
Election  in  Illinois  in  1836,  20, 139. 
Election  of  1896,  619. 
Elkton,  Tennessee,  116. 
English,  William  H.,  nominated  by  the 

Democrats  for  vice-president,  437. 
Evil  of  special  legislature,  290. 

Farwell,  Honorable  C.  B.,  foreman  grand 
jury,  363. 

Fac-simile  of  Lincoln's  refusal  to  ac- 
cept resignation,  195. 

"Feeding  guerrillas,"  277. 

Fellows,  Colonel  John  R.,  notifies  Gen- 
eral Buckner,  597. 

Fessenden,  William  P.,  delegate  to  peace 
convention,  84. 

Field,  Alexander  P.,  31.  601. 

Field,  David  Dudley,  delegate  to  peace 
convention,  85. 

Fifer,  Governor,  elected,  464. 

Fish  back,  James,  75. 

Fitzgibbon,  Captain  14th  Michigan  In- 
fantry, 103. 

Floyd.  John  B.,  resigns  as  secretary  of 
war,  88;  arms  the  South,  89. 

Fogg,  Francis  B.,  "historic  lawyer," 
124;  description  of,  126;  son  fell  at 
Mill  Spring,  126. 

Foote,  Henry  8.,  leader  and  chief  of, 
000. 

Fort  Dearborn,  000. 

Foraging  incident,  164, 165. 

Forman,  William  S.,  opposes  state  con- 
vention, 589. 

Forrest,  "one  of  the  men  who  went  to 
get,"  123. 

Fouke,  Judge  Jacob,  27. 

Fourteenth  Army  Corps,  141. 

Fourth  of  July  in  Louisville,  240. 

Frank,  brother,  16. 

Freeport,  debate,  601. 

Free  Democracy,  77. 

Fremont,  John  C.,  74. 

Galesburg,  Illinois,  first  saw  Abraham 
Lincoln  in  1839,  601. 

Galesburg,  visited  by  invitation  of  Presi- 
dent Finley  on  occasion  of  debate 
between  Lincoln  and  Douglas,  601. 

Galesburg  address,  601;  too  early  for  an 
impartial  review,  602. 

Garesche,  General,  killed,  147. 

Garrett,  Isaac,  visit  to,  251,  252;  conver- 
sation with,  252;  death  from  in- 
sanity, 253. 

"  Gave  me  my  time,"  15, 16. 

General  order  No.  4,  231 ;  No.  5,  forbids 
compulsory  enlistment  of  colored 
soldiers,  233;  No.  32,  passes  to  colored 
persons,  239;  No.  129,  "  equal  justice 
and  same  personal  liberty  to  all," 
242. 

General  court  martial  order  No.  11,-  276; 
No.  19,  276;  No.  21,  276. 

Gillie's  Hill,  mentioned,  163. 

Girard,  brick-kiln,  55. 

Goodrich,  Adams  A.,  opposes  conven- 
tion, 589. 

Goodell,  R.  E.,  56. 

Gordon,  General  John  B.,  delivered  ad- 
dress at  Chickamauga  Park,  561. 

Gradual  encroachment  of  legislature, 
289. 

Grant,  General  U.  S.,  received  in  Spring- 
field, 432;  exercises  connected  with 
visit,  432;  reply  to  welcome,  436,  437. 

Greathouse,  John  S.,  study  law  with 
him,  27. 


Green,  Senator  James  S.,  93. 

Gridley,  Asohel,  72. 

Griggsville,  Illinois,  22. 

Grosvenor,  Thomas  W.,  death  of,  361. 

Gross's  brigade,  145,  182. 

Gross,  Colonel  William,  commander  2d 

division,  140. 
Guerrillas,  The,  "Sue  Munday,"  Marion, 

Magruder,    Medkiff,  Quantrell,  267; 

captured,  "  Sue  Munday,"  Medkiff 

and  Magrnder,  272. 
Gunboats,  first  experience  with,  98. 

Habits  of  lawyers.  40. 

Hale,  Reverend  Albert,  49-51;  constitu- 
tional convention,  49,  50. 

Hale,  John  P.,  67. 

Hall,  Allen  A.,  friend  of  John  Bell,  124. 

Hammond,  David  S.,  railroad  and  ware- 
house commissioner,  356. 

Hamlin,  Hannibal,  nominated  for  vice- 
president,  81. 

Hannibal,  Missouri,  93. 

Hancock,  W.  S.,  nominated  by  Demo- 
crats for  president,  437. 

Harlan,  General  E.  B.,  sent  to  Chicago, 
343. 

Harris,  Major  Thomas  L.,74. 

Harris,  General  John  A.,  29. 

Hasty  construction  of  bridge,  203. 

Hatch,  Colonel,  mentioned,  108. 

Hatch,  O.  M.,  belfry  of  church,  23. 

Hatch  is  present,  435. 

Hayes,  Lieutenant,  mentioned,  129. 

Hayes,  R.  B.,  nominated  for  president, 
395. 

Hays,  S.  S.,  delegate  from  White  county, 
51;  resolutions  in  convention,  51. 

Hazen,  Colonel  Wm.  B.,  commander  of 
3d  division,  140. 

Hazcn's  brigade,  145. 

Helm,  Governor  John  L.,  interview  with, 
233. 

Henderson,  C.  N.,  22-24. 

Hendricks,  Thomas  A.,  nominated  for 
vice-president,  395. 

Herndon,  Mr.,  addresses  the  colored 
people,  325. 

Hewitt,  Abram  S.,  chairman  Democratic 
national  committee,  396. 

Hickinson,  Thomas,  delegate  to  peace 
convention,  85. 

Hicks,  Governor,  address,  88. 

Hoar,  William  (Senator),  546. 

Hobart,  Garret  A.,  for  vice-president, 
594. 

Hogan,  John,  37. 

"Hollow  Tree  Gap,"  122. 

Hospitality  of  the  camp,  166. 

House  bills  No.  1,414,  313;  No.  213,  315- 
No.  945,  315. 

"  Hubbard's  Cove,"  delegation  from,  in- 
vite me  to  become  candidate  for 
governor  of  Tennessee,  166;  decline 
the  honor,  167. 

"  Hunting  Yankees,"  115. 

Illinois,  removal  of  family  to,  9;  gocial, 
financial  and  political  conditions  of, 
280-284. 

Incidents  in  camp,  154,  155. 

Island  No.  10,  prepare  agreement,  96. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  2,  3,  7,  36. 

James,  Reverend  Thomas,  appointed  to 

look  into   cases   of   imprisonment, 

234. 

"  Jayhawkers,"  94. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  2. 
Jonesboro,  debate,  601. 
Jordan,  John  P.,  000. 
Johns,  Kensey,  case  cited,  540. 


626 


INDEX. 


Johnson's  division,  145. 

Johnson,  Governor  Andrew,  met,  124; 

description  of,  127. 

Johnson,  of  McCook's  21it  Corps,  181. 
Johnson,  President,  keeps  the  promise 

of  Mr.  Lincoln,  243. 
Johnson.  George  W.,  letter  from  and  to, 

236-237;    elected   circuit  judge,  243; 

declares  order  No.  3249  illegal,  248. 
Johnston,  General  Joseph  E.,  relieved 

by  General  Hood,  207. 
Judd,  N.  B.,  61,  62,  72,  81. 
Julian,  Governor  W.,  of  Indiana,  67,  399. 

Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  59-62  ;  act  of  con- 
gress on,  59 ;  resolutions  in  state 
senate  on,  59. 

Kellogg,  governor,  397. 

Kenesaw  Mountain,  assault  ordered  on, 
205,  206  ;  McOook  wounded,  205  ; 
Harmon  killed,  205. 

Kenner,  William,  member  of  returning 
board,  397-399. 

Kimball,  Mrs.  Hannah  L.,  458. 

Kimball,  H.  M.,  77. 

King,  colonel,  commander  Indiana 
regulars,  killed,  183. 

Kitchell,  attorney-general  state,  33. 

Knapp,  of  Jersey,  resolutions  in  con- 
vention, 50, 51. 

"Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,"  111, 
133, 152. 

"  Know-Nothings,"  73. 

Koerner,  Gustavus,  railroad  and  Ware- 
house commissioner,  355 ;  number 
of  votes,  378. 

Lady  at  Readyville.  151. 

Lamb,  Mr.  James  L.,  458. 

Lam  born,  37. 

Lane,  95. 

Lanman,  James,  case  cited,  540. 

Lands  in  Illinois,  14. 

Lasater,  George  W.,  recommended  for 

chaplain,  157. 
Laughlin,  William,  45-47. 
Lavely,  William,  70. 
La  Vergne,  surprise  of  rebels  at,  127. 
Lee  and  Gordon's  Mills,  170;   Wood   is 

there,  173. 
Legislature  of  state  enacts  laws  for  more 

perfect  equipment   of    militia,    92; 

creates  ten  regiments,  92. 
Letter  to  keeper  of    Louisville  work- 
house, 234;   case  of   Jacob  Hard  in, 

235. 
Lewis,   Major  William   B.,   auditor  of 

treasury,  124;  quartermaster,  125. 
License  to  practice  law,  30. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  met  for  first  time, 

31-37,71,72;  nominated  for  president, 

81;  visit  to,  153;  mentioned,  325. 
Lincoln,  Robert  T.,  makes  an  address, 

601. 
Lindsay,  William,  adjutant-general  of 

Kentucky,  268. 
"  Listeners  hear  no  good  of  themselves," 

208. 

Little  Sequatchie,  168. 
Lockerman,  Nick,  66. 
Longstreet's  troops,  176. 
Lookout  Mountain,  position  of  artillery, 

187. 

Lookout  Valley,  mentioned,  170. 
Logan,  John  A.,  indictment  for  bringing 

negroes  into  the  state,  57;  nominated 

by   Republicans   for   United   States 

senator,  430. 
Logan,  General  John  A.,  unsuccessful 

assault  on  Kenesaw,  205;  death,  438. 
Logan  Lave,  56. 


Logan,  Judge  Stephen  A.,  55. 

Logan,   Stephen   T.,  delegate  to  peace 

convention,  84. 
Love,  John,  of  Indiana,  339. 
Lovejoy,  Elijah  P.,  24. 
Lovejoy,  Owen,  67. 
Lowe,  ex-governor,  88. 
Lunsford,  Lewis,  Baptist  preacher,  1. 

Macon,  Missouri,  93. 

Macoupin  county,  25. 

Macoupin  county,  township  organiza- 
tion, 55. 

Madison  county,  11, 18. 

Margruder's  sentence,  difficult  to  settle, 
273. 

Major,  William  T.,  11. 

Making  mortar,  17. 

Manchester,  149;  return  to,  166. 

Manson,  M.  D.,  of  Indiana,  399. 

Maury,  brigadier-general,  captured,  128. 

Mantle,  William  Lee,  argument  against 
unseating  him,  534. 

Markley,  William,  delegate  to  peace 
convention,  44,  45. 

Marshall,  John,  held  as  hostage.  123. 

Marshall,  Samuel  8.,  circuit  judge,  59. 

Martin,  Thomas,  peace  conference,  85. 

Martin,  Honorable  Thomas,  lived  at 
Pulaski,  117. 

Marquette,  Pere,  statue  of,  576. 

Marquette,  resolution  concerning  ac- 
ceptance by  senate,  5. 

Mason,  William  E.,  letter  to  General 
Palmer  proposing  a  joint-discussion, 
471. 

Mason,  R.  B.,  mayor,  to  the  governor, 
360.  361. 

Matteson,  Joel  A.,  56-72. 

Mather  is  present,  435. 

Mayo,  Samuel  T.,  75. 

McClernand,  General  John  A.,  sent  to 
Cairo,  91. 

McClernand,  John  A.,  nominated  for 
congress,  79. 

McClellan,  General  George  B.,  head- 
quarters, 92. 

McConnel,  Honorable  William,  65. 

McCook,  general  commander  right 
wing,  141. 

McCracken,  Captain  Archibald,  3. 

McDonald,  Joseph  E.,  member  of  com- 
mittee from  Indiana,  399. 

McDougall,  James  A.,  000. 

McHenry,  Henry_D.,  of  Kentucky,  399. 

Mcllvaine,  Archibald,  cabinet  maker,  2. 

McKittrick,  Major,  entertained  at  camp, 
119. 

McKittrick,  "  My  cousin,"  120. 

McKittrick  stock  returned,  120. 

McKinley,  William,  nominated  for  presi- 
dent, 594. 

"Me Lean  County  Historical  Society,  "620. 

McMillen  Hattie,  visit  to,  151. 

McMinnville,  149. 

McMurtry,  Honorable  William,  56. 

MePhersou,  Major-General  James  B., 
Army  of  Tennessee,  202. 

Menzies,  Doctor,  mentioned,  155. 

Mercantile  Protective  Company  of  Chi- 
cago, reason  for  veto,  312,  313. 

Miles,  lieutenant-colonel,  mentioned, 
108. 

Mills,  Benjamin,  6. 

Missouri  Compromise,  60. 

Missionarv  Ridge,  169. 

Mitchell,  William,  senator,  mentioned, 
544. 

Mob  at  Griggsville,  23. 

Mobs,  case  of  Harrison  Reed,  316;  case 
of  Hank  Leonard,  316;  case  of  Joseph 
C.  Ramsey,  316. 


INDEX. 


.627 


Montgomery,  95. 

Monroe,  Missouri,  93. 

Moore,  Doctor,  populist  member  of 
legislature,  474. 

Moore,  William,  incident  in  sleeper,  154. 

Moore,  Enoch,  tailor,  trusts  me  lor  a 
suit,  19. 

Moore,  Enoch,  "ex-offlcio  fund  com- 
missioner," 20. 

Moore,  Henry  W.,  secretary,  43. 

Morgan,  Brigadier-General  James  D., 
mentioned,  113;  commander  Second 
brigade,  102. 

Morgan,  Richard  P.,  Jr.,  railroad  and 
warehouse  commissioner,  355. 

Morgan's,  .M  PH.,  Bilk  dress.  152. 

Morrison,  William  K.,  delegate  from 
Illinois,  399. 

Morrill,  Lot  M.,  delegate  to  peace  con- 
vention, 84. 

Mt.  Nebo  Lodge,  69. 

"Movers,"  how  they  traveled,  11. 

Movements  of  the  14th  Army  Corps,  204. 

Muhlman,  adjutant-general,  175. 

Mundy,  Colonel  Mark,  secures  chariot 
aud  pie-bald  horses,  241;  accompany 
to  fair  grounds,  241. 

Murf reesboro,  skirmish  near,  137. 

Murfreesboro  turnpike,  129. 

Murfreesboro,  battle  of,  143;  evacuated, 
144. 

Mymoth  er's  death,  14. 

Mystery  about  rebel  movements,  132, 

Nash,  Andrew  J.,  tried  for  murder,  65. 

National  Republican  Convention,  1856, 
74. 

National  Eepublican  Convention,  held, 
81. 

National  Silver  Party  meet  at  St.  Louis, 
592;  nominate  Bryan  and  Sewall, 
592;  platform,  American  financial 
system,  592. 

National  Democratic  Convention  at  In- 
dianapolis, 594;  invocation  from 
Bishop  White,  594;  platform,  594; 
letters  from  Cleveland  and  Carlisle, 
597. 

Nebraska  Democracy,  71. 

Nebraska  Bill,  24. 

Neely,  Miss  M.  A.,  39;  death,  39. 

Negley,  General,  occupies  and  holds 
Nashville,  124;  surprises  rebels  at 
La  Vergne.  128. 

New  Madrid,  preparations  against,  96. 

Newspaper  rumors,  190. 

Nichols,  General,  mentioned,  398. 

Nominees  of  convention,  73. 

Note  from  General  Thomas,  174. 

Noyes,  William  Curtis,  delegate  to  peace 
convention,  district  lawyer,  85. 

"Nullifiers,"  125. 

Officers  of  the  14th  Regiment,  93. 

Oglesby,  R.  J.,  offer  of  governorship, 
number  of  votes,  378. 

Oglesby,  Governor,  my  predecessor,  our 
friendship,  285. 

One  hundred  and  one  Democrats,  474. 

"One-armed  Berry."  a  notorious  guer- 
rilla, 274;  visited  by  ladies,  275. 

Oppose  monopolies,  313. 

Order  No.  51,  regarding  elections,  248- 
250. 

Order  No  10,  enfranchising  the  families 
of  colored  soldiers,  232,  233. 

Ottendorfer,  Oswald,  New  York,  399. 

Otterville,   Missouri,   headquarters    of 

General  Pope,  94;  leave  there  for  St. 
LouiR,  96. 

Ottawa,  debate,  601. 

Oswley,  William,  Associate-justice,  6. 


Palmer,    Thomas,   emigrated    to    Vir- 
ginia, 1. 

Isaac,  grandfather,  1. 

Louis  D.,  birth  in  Virginia;  removes 
to  Illinois  in  1831.  1,  4,  10, 11. 

Ann  McAuley,  mother,  1. 

Elihu,  17-25. 

Isaac,  cousin,  19. 

Reverend  Frank,  of  Jacksonville,  151. 

Reverend  Henry,  member  of  coni    • 

tutional  convention  of  1847, 151. 
Palmer.  John  M.,  3, 19,  72. 

First  fee,  42. 

First  marriage,  39. 

Daughter  of  James  Neely,  39. 

House-furnishings,  39. 

Method  of  law  study,  27. 

Probate-justice  of  the  peace,  41. 

Contributor  to  the  American  Coloni- 
zation Society,  41. 

Charged  with  abolitionism,  41. 

Delegate  to  the  convention  of  1847, 43 

Speech  in  convention,  48. 

Resolution  in  convention,  49. 

Republicans  on  school  fund,  51. 

Elected  probate-justice,  54. 

Elected  county  judge,  54. 

Elected  to  state  senate,  56. 

Resolutions  in  senate  on  Missouri 
Compromise,  60. 

Vote,  62. 

Re-elected  to  senate,  68. 

Nominated  for  congress,  78. 

Delegate  to  peace  convention,  84. 

Assigned  to  command  of  brigade, 
First  Division,  Army  of  Missouri, 
102. 

Reconnoitre  on  Corinth,  102. 

Elected  colonel  of  regiment,  92. 

Marches  to  Rossville,  171. 

Circular  from  General  Rosecrans,  159 

Replies  to  circular,  159-162. 

Orders  to  move  to  Tullahoma,  162. 

Sent  to  Washington,  153. 

Commander  of  division,  1-13. 

Assigned  to  command  of  division 
formerly  commanded  by  General 
Nelson,  140. 

Relieves  General  William  S.  Smith, 
140. 

"  Read  Grotius,"  134. 

Criticism  upon  life  and  speeches  of 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  135. 

Tribute  to  Douglas,  136. 

Shot  by  a  boy,  130. 

Diary  at  Nashville,  131. 

Message  to  General  Assembly- 
Granting  pardons,  383,  384. 
Advocates  laws  for  the  protection 

of  the  poor,  384,  385. 
Suggests  appointment  of  an  of- 
ficer to  watch  administration 
of  laws,  386. 

Railroad  and  warehouse,  387-390. 
Management  of  penitentiary,  391. 
Inebriate  asylums,  391-393. 
Close  of  message,  394. 

Withdraws  to  Lee  and  Gordon's 
mills,  173. 

Crosses  Missionary  Ridge  to  Chatta- 
nooga valley,  173. 

Passed  Crawfish  Springs,  173. 

Division  of  Twentieth  Corps,  181. 

Tenders  resignation,  191, 192. 

Note  to  General  Thomas,  209. 

Correspondence  with  Generals  Sher- 
man and  Schofleld,  210-221. 

Ended  connection  with  Army  of  the 
Cumberland,  221. 

Returns  to  Illinois,  222. 

Indicted  for  bringing  slaves  into 
Missouri,  222. 


628 


INDEX. 


Palmer,  John  M.— 

Names  of  jurors  in  trial  of  case,  222, 
223. 

Found  "  not  guilty,"  223. 

Sent  to  Washington  by  Governor 
Oglesby,  223. 

Last  interview  with  Lincoln,  224, 225. 

Assigned  to  Military  Department  of 
Kentucky,  225. 

Assumed  command,  226. 

Addresses  legislature  at  Frankfort, 
228  229 

Repo'rts  to  Mr.  Stanton,  230. 

Tenders  resignation  as  major-gen- 
eral of  volunteers,  264. 

Four  suits  pending  against  in  Ken- 
tucky courts,  264-266. 

Letter  to  adjutant-general  United 
States,  concerning  Samuel  O.  Ber- 
ry, 274. 

Letter  to  Honorable  Lyman  Trum- 
bull;  argument  in  favor  of  "equal- 
ity before  the  law  for  negroes," 
260-264. 

Report;to  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  253. 

Indictment  served  against,  243. 

Given  command  of  Fourteenth 
Army  Corps,  148. 

At  Bridgeport,  Tennessee,  1%. 

Resignation  not  accepted,  196. 

Benefited  by  anger,  198. 

Asks  to  be  relieved  from  command 
of  the  Department  of  Kentucky, 
278, 279. 

Returns  to  Illinois,  278. 

Partnership  with  Milton  Hay,  278. 

Organization  ot'G.  A.  R..  278. 

Ordered  to  Washington  by  Secretary 
Stanton,  278. 

Presides  at  court-martial  at  Raleigh, 
North  Carolina,  278. 

Elected  commander  of  G.  A.  R.,  278. 

Court-martial  at  Nashville,  Tennes- 
see, 278. 

Conversation  with  General  Grant,  278 

Removed  to  Springfield,  278. 

Elected  governor  of  Illinois,  279. 

Visits  Chicago  during  fire,  394. 

Convened  the  general  assembly,  349. 

Message  to  general  assembly, 349-354. 

Letter  to  President  Grant,  366,  367. 

Letter  from  President  Grant  to  Gen- 
eral Palmer,  368. 

Closing  message  of  administration, 
378,  379. 

Fraud  in  commercial  circles,  380. 

Abolition  of  grand  juries,  3SO-383. 

Message  to  regulate— 
Railroad  corporation,  320. 
Railroads  and  warehouses,  321. 
"  Eminent  domain,"  321. 
Private  detectives,  321,  322. 
Pardons,  322,  323. 
Public  education,  324. 

Vetoes  senate  bills— 
Nos.  219,  391  and  162,  293. 
No.  285,  243. 

Inaugural  message,  285,  286. 

Relative  powers  and  duties  of  na- 
tional and  state  governments,  287, 
288. 

Nominated  as  candidate  for  United 
States  senator,  429. 

Withdrew  in  favor  of  General  An- 
derson, 431. 

Speech  at  reception  of  General 
Grant,  432-435. 

Makes  speech  for  Hancock,  437. 

Delegate  from  Illinois,  399. 

Supports  Tildeu,  396. 


Palmer.  John  M.— 

Chosen  by  Mr.  Hewitt  to  go  to  Louis- 
iana, 397. 

Arrived  at  New  Orleans,  397. 

Elected  chairman,  397. 

Delegate  to  national  Democratic  con- 
vention at  Chicago,  which  nomi- 
nated Mr.  Cleveland,  in  1884,  437. 

Canvassed  for  Mr.  Cleveland,  437. 

Delivered  memorial  address  upon 
General  Logan,  438-457. 

Second  marriage,  458. 

Accepted  nomination  for  governor 
of  state,  458. 

Speech  of  acceptance,  463. 

Offered  help  by  anarchists.  463. 

Letter  to  Honorable  James  1£.  Camp- 
bell, 465,  466. 

State  convention  met,  466. 

Nominated  for  United  States  sena- 
tor, 466. 

Speech  of  acceptance,  466-471. 

Correspondence  with  Honorable 
William  E.  Mason,  471-473. 

Elected  senator  of  United  States,  473. 

Takes  seat  in  United  States  senate, 
475. 

On  death  of  Senator  Plumb,  475. 

Speech  on  election  of  senators  by 
the  people,  476. 

Idea  not  novel  to  Illinois,  477. 

The  "101"  members  of  Democratic 
legislature  regard  themselves  as 
electors,  479. 

Omissions  of  the  framers  of  the  con- 
stitution, 480,  481. 

Reference  to  Dr.  Franklin,  Mr.  Gerry 
and  others,  482. 

Contrasts  conditions  between  1797 
and  1892,  485. 

Territory  of  Illinois,  486. 

Constitution  of  1818-1847.  487. 

"Ingenuous  trick"  in  Illinois  legis- 
lature, 489. 

Property  of  the  country,  490. 

Personal  record  for  benefit  of  Mr. 
Chandler,  494,  495. 

Record  in  United  States  Senate- 
Opposes  pure  food  bill,  496. 
Favors  application  for  G.  A.  R.  en- 
campment, 496. 
Pension   for  judges  of   supreme 

court,  497. 
Opposes  control  of  Indians  by  war 

department,  497-499. 
Pension  of  Andrew  McKee,  501. 
Debate  and  speech  on  the  Home- 
stead affair,  502-510. 
Letter  to  secretary  of  treasury  and 

director  of  mint,  511,  512. 
Reply  from  director  of  mint,  512. 
The  "American  Sabbath,"  513. 
Regarding  "protection,"  514. 
Opposes  a  bill  licensing  deal  in 

options,  515. 

Discusses  national  quarantine,  517. 
Opposes  bill  for  relief  of  Wiliiam 

McGarraghan,  517. 
Discusses  election  of  senators  un- 
der constitution,  536. 
Letter  to  Isaac  H.  Webb,  555. 
Letter  to  President  Cleveland,  558. 

Oration  delivered  at  Snodgrass  Hill, 

Chickamauga— 

Tribute  to  "  Rock  of  Chickamau- 
ga;"  Rosecrans;  Crittendeu;  Gor- 
don Granger,  5fiO. 

Brannan ;  Jefferson  C.  Davis :  Ph  ilip 
H.    Sheridan;     Lytte,"    soldier- 
poet;"  Barker,  561, 
Daniel  McCook,  562. 


INDEX. 


629 


Palmer,  John  M.— 

Remarks  on  acceptance  of  Marquette 

statue,  576. 

By  request  of  secretary  of  war,  de- 
livered short  oration  on  unveiling 
of  the  Hancock  memorial  statue, 
580. 

Nominated  as  candidate  for  presi- 
dent, 597. 

Formally  notified  at  Louisville,  597. 
Speech  of  acceptance,  597-599. 
Visited  Philadelphia,  600. 
Witness   parade   of  "sound  money 

men"  in  Chicago,  617. 
Met  General  Buckner;  trips  through 
Michigan;  entertained  by  General 
Don   Dickinson;   went  to  Cincin- 
nati, Louisville  and  Nashville,  617. 
Wisdom    of    arresting    citizens    in 

Franklin  confirmed,  617. 
Spoke   in   Columbia,    Pulaski,    Bir- 
mingham,  Mobile   and  New   Or- 
leans, 618. 

"Ex  post  facto  law,"  618. 
Rejoins  General  Buckner,  618. 
Speaks    at    St.    Paul,   Minneapolis, 
Omaha,    Ottumwa,    Mt.    Pleasant, 
Burlington,  Warrensburg,  Kansas 
City,    and    witnesses    parade    of 
"sound  money  men"  at  St.  Louis, 
618. 

Paine,  General  E.  A.,  commander  of  di- 
vision, 102;  mentioned,  108. 
Palmyra,  Missouri,  93. 
Papers  submitted  to  general  assembly, 
364-369;  extract  from  "Chicago  Jour- 
nal," 365. 

Peace  convention  assembled,  84;  dele- 
gate to,  84, 85. 
Pea  Vine  Creek  valley,  171;  humiliating 

capture  of  troops,  172. 
Peden,  Captain,  anecdote,  148. 
Pitcher,  Captain  Thomas  C.,  musters  in 

regulars,  93. 
Pittman,  William,  77. 
Platform  of  convention,  81. 
Polk,  James  K.,37,  3S;  Democratic  can- 
didate for  president,  125;  called  the 
"Young  Hickory,"  125. 
Polk,  General,  killed  at  Pine  Mountain, 

204. 

Political  influence  in  the  army,  157. 
Popular  sovereignty,  67. 
Populist    national    convention    at    St. 
Louis;  no'minate  Bryan  and  Watson; 
demand  free  and  unrestricted  coin- 
age of  silver  and  gold  at  ratio  of  six- 
teen to  one,  593. 

Post,  Mrs.  Philip  S.,  entertained  by,  601. 
Prairies  of  Illinois,  12. 
Preacher  captured,  163. 
Prentiss,    Colonel    Benjamin,    reply    to 

Kentucky  colonel,  92. 
Pruden,  Major,  secretary  of  President 

Cleveland,  194. 

Pulaski,  Tennessee,  116,  117;  treatment 
by  women,  118. 

Qualifications  of  national  electors,  410, 
426. 

Quantrell,  95. 

Quincy,  Illinois,  encam  ped  at,  93;  debate 
of  Lincoln  and  Don  glas,  601. 

"Quincy,  Missouri  Paciflca  Railroad  Com- 
pany," 305-308. 

Race  for  battlefield,  174. 

Radford,  Mrs.  Reuben,  old  friend,  251. 

Radford,     Captain,    Sunday    preaching 

and  whisky,  10. 
Randall,  Samuel  J.,  from  Pennsylvania, 

399. 


Railroad  commissioners;  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad,  295-297,  299,  301,  302; 
Chicago,  Burlington  aud  Quincy 
Railroad,  296,  299, 301;  Michigan  Cen- 
tral Railroad,  2%,  301. 

Raisin  River,  affair  at,  3. 

Readyville,  incident  at,  150. 

Ready,  Honorable  Charles  (daughter 
married  John  H.  Morgan),  151. 

Reasons  for  vetoing  "Lake  Front  bill," 
304,305. 

Rebels  made  an  attack,  181. 

Recklessness  of  legislature  of  1869,  316. 

"Red-legs,  "94. 

Refugees  come  in,  134. 

Renick,  Missouri,  batallion  of  14th,  93. 

Representations  made  to  the  United 
States  House  of  Representatives: 
George  F.  Hoar,  William  A.  Wheeler, 
William  P.  Fry,  410,  421. 

Republican,  letter  in  reference  to  a  con- 
ference, 400,  401;  correspondence 
with  Democratic  chairman,  406,  407; 
national  convention  at  St.  Louis, 
financial  plank  of  platform,  594. 

Republican  party,  "anything  to  beat 
Blaine"  (candidate  for  nomination 
for  presidency),  395. 

Republicans,  31. 

Reseca,  battle  at;  evacuated  by  rebels, 
203. 

Resignation  of  General  Palmer;  its  cu- 
rious history,  193. 

Reynolds,  of  Fourteenth  Corps,  181. 

Rice,  Honorable  John  B.,  mayor  of  Chi- 
cago, 301. 

Riddle's  Point,  ordered  to,  96;  incident 
at,  99-101. 

Ringgold,  Georgia,  170;  reconnaissance 
upon,  199. 

Rives,  William  C.,  district  senator, 
peace  convention,  85. 

Roberts,  Colonel  George  W.,  commander 
of  brigade,  113;  "one  of  the  most 
gallant  of  men,"  121. 

Robertson,  Judge  George,  letter  to,  247, 

Robinson,  Colonel  Milton  S.,  176;  con- 
cerned for  his  men,  178;  "Greeley 
speech,"  178, 179. 

Rodgers,  Colonel  Andrew  Fuller,  21. 

Rodgers,  Reverend  Ebenezer,  21. 

Rome,  rebels  driven  out  by  Davis,  203. 

Ronald,  Mr.,  sheriff  of  Jefferson  county, 
245. 

Ross,  Lewis  M.,  80. 

Rossville,  village  of,  170. 

Rosecrans,  General,  115, 124, 174;  to  suc- 
ceed Buell  in  command,  march 
toward  Nashville,  138;  sends  order 
through  Crittendeu  (General),  143; 
personal  courage,  146,  147;  relieved, 
191;  disapproves  acceptance  of  Gen-l 
eral  Palmer's  resignation,  193. 

Rousseau's  division,  146. 

Roy,  brother,  16. 

Rumors  from  rebel  sources,  13L 

Russell's  battery,  182. 

Rutledge,  William  J.,  chaplain  Four- 
teenth Illinois  Infantry,  278. 

Rutherford's  creek,  120;  bridge  over,  121. 


Salary  of  judges,  57. 
Scammon,  J.  Y.,  30. 


Scarret,  Major,  takes  prisoners,  123. 

Scofleld,  major-general  Army  of  the 
Ohio,  202. 

Scott,  Larkin,  murdered,  34. 

Sedden,  James  A.,  delegate  to  peace 
convention,  85;  confederate  secre- 
tary of  war,  85. 


630 


INDEX. 


Sedgewick,  Colonel,  197. 

Secretary  of  war  (Mr.Stanton)  interview 
with,  153. 

Selling  clocks,  22. 

Semple,  General  James,  13. 14. 

"Senate  bill  No.  652,"  291. 

Sequatchie  Valley,  its  position,  168. 

Bewail,  Arthur,  nominated  for  vice- 
president,  591. 

"Sewardmen,"  80. 

Seward,  W.  H.,  choice  of  New  Jersey 
delegation  for  president,  81. 

Shaw,  Lieutenant  John  E.,  climbed  a 
tree,  148;  as  advance  guard,  129. 

Shelby ville  Coal  Company,  291. 

Sheridan,  Lieutenant-General  P.  H.,  dis- 
patch to,  347;  telegram  from,  348;  is- 
sued order  to  Frank  T.  Sherman, 
355,  356. 

Sheridan's  division,  145. 

Sherman,  General  William  T.,  com- 
mander of  army,  202. 

Shields,  General  James,  71. 

Siegel,  General,  94. 

Singular  incident,  122. 

Sixth  Kentucky  Infantry,  148. 

Slate,  Mr.,  "dangerous  person,"  114. 

Smith,  Theodore,  chief-justice,  312;  ar- 
raignment of  license,  81. 

Smith,  George  B.,  member  of  committee 
from  Wisconsin,  399. 

Snow  in  October,  137. 

Solomon,  Lewis,  Sr.,  candidate  for  seat 
in  the  convention  of  1847,  43. 

"Southern  Confederate  newspaper," 
175. 

Sowers  arrested,  93. 

"Special  order  No.  64,"  affair  at  Bards- 
town,  268,  269. 

Springfield,  visit  to,  30. 

Stager,  General  A.,  telegram  from,  344; 
telegram  to,  from  governor,  345. 

Stanton,  Illinois,  meeting  at,  29. 

Stanley,  General,  controversy  with 
Hazen,  146. 

Starne,  Alexander,  elected  state  treas- 
urer, 140. 

State  legislature,  special  session,  91. 

Stevenson,  Doctor,  surgeon  14th  Illinois 
Infantry,  278. 

Stevenson,  J.  W.,  of  Kentucky,  399. 

Stewart's  Creek,  142. 

Strait,  Mr.,  brings  news,  134. 

Stokes,  Jordan,  "one  of  the  senators," 
132. 

Stone  river,  143;  battle  of,  148. 

Stuart,  John  T.f  first  meeting  with,  24; 
elected  to  congress,  140. 

Sturgeon,  Missouri,  leave  of  absence,  94. 

"  Submerged  lands  constituting  the  bed 
of  Lake  Michigan,"  302. 

"  Substantially  free,"  242. 

"Sue  Mundy  "  (Jerome  Clark)  hanged, 
272. 

Swanwick,  Major,  106. 

Swanwick,    Gregory     Senife,     officers, 

captured,  135. 
Swett,  Leonard,  defeated  by  Stuart,  140. 

Terrell,  Captain  Marion,  268. 

"Texas,"  Jonathan  Billingboy,  269; 
killed  by  Allen  Farmer,  271. 

"Texas  revolution,"  18;  arrested  for 
debt,  19. 

Thomas,  General,  14th  Corps,  181;  com- 
mands the  center  of  division,  141; 
becomes  acquainted  with,  124;  com- 
mander Army  of  the  Cumberland, 
202. 


Thompson,  Jacob,  secretary  of  the  in- 
terior, 88. 

Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  nominated  for  pre- 
sident, 000;  esteemed  by  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  000. 

Tiptonville,  Tennessee,  construction  of 
earthworks,  97;  position  of  troops,  97. 

Todd,  Aaron  and  William,  35. 

Todd,  guerrilla,  95. 

Treat,  Theodore  N.,  student  Chicago 
university,  361;  member  Union 
cadets,  361. 

Trimble,  John,  his  ideas,  131. 

Trumbull,  Lyman,  23,  71,  72;  delegate 
from  Illinois,  399;  Honorable,  letter 
to  him,  260-264,  399. 

Tuck,  Amos,  delegate  to  peace  con- 
vention, 84. 

Tullahoma,  149. 

Tunnel  Hill,  skirmish  at,  200;  houses 
burned,  201;  mentioned,  203. 

Turner.  Thpmas  J.,  delegate  to  peace 
convention,  84. 

Turpie,  Senator,  541. 

Tutt,  Lewis,  grandfather,  2. 

Tutt,  Ann  Hansford,  mother,  2. 

Tyler,  John,  delegate  to  peace  conven- 
tion, 85;  vice-president,  38. 

Tyler,  Judge,  president  of  peace  con- 
vention, 84. 

Van  Cleve,  General  Horatio  P.,  com- 
mander of  division,  143. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  36. 

Venice,  Madison  county,  veto  act  to  in- 
corporate, 293. 

Veto  many  bills,  292. 

Virden,  town  of,  55;  4th  of  July.  63. 

Wadsworth,  James  S.,  delegate  to  peace 
convention,  85;  killed  in  Civil  War, 
85. 

Waldron's  Ridge,  crossed  with  Hazen's 
brigade,  168. 

Washington  City,  600. 

Watkins,  General,  ordered  to  capture 
jail,  245. 

Watterson,  Henry,  of  Kentucky,  399. 

Walker,  Doctor  Mary,  "contract  sur- 
geon," 227. 

Walker,  Isaac  P.,  31;  senator  from  Wis- 
consin, 601. 

Webb,  Isaac  H.,  letter  to,  555;  concern- 
ing the  position  of  the  Democracy  of 
Illinois  on  the  money  question,  556. 

Webb,  E.  B.,  56. 

Wells,  member  of  returning  board,  399. 

Wheeler,  General,  142, 147. 

Whig  party,  37. 

Whigs,  73. 

Whittaker,  Miss  Harriet,  visit  to,  167. 

Wilson,  John  A.,  sergeant-at-arms,  43. 

Wilson,  Hall,  sent  to  Cairo,  91. 

Wilson  Creek,  battle  at,  94. 

Williams,  Archibald,  72. 

Williams  is  here,  435. 

Winchester,  Major  P.  H.,  000. 

Wines,  Reverend  F.  H..  secretary  of 
board  of  public  charities,  344. 

Wrights,  Crafts  J.,  secretary  of  the 
peace  convention,  84. 

Wright,  B.  G.,  378. 

Wood,  Thomas  J,,  brigadier-general, 
commander  of  division,  143;  misun- 
derstanding of  orders,  142. 

Wood,  General  John  E.,  delegate  to 
peace  convention,  85. 

Wood,  John,  delegate  to  peace  conven- 
tion, 84. 


INDEX. 


631 


Wood,  Governor,  "  so  earnest  and  sin- 
cere," 435. 

Woodbury,  Rebel  position  at,  149. 

Woodson,  David  M..  66. 

Woodson,  Hezekiah,  teacher  in  Ken- 
tucky, 4. 

Yates,  Richard,  nominated  for  gov- 
ernor, 80;  eloquent  orator  and  pa- 


triot,   435;    appointed    delegate    to 

peace  convention,  84;  telegram  from, 

152. 

Yancey,  Isabella,  1. 
Yulee,  senator  from  Florida,  writes  to 

legislature  of  Maryland,  89. 

Zollicoffcr.  General,  killed,  126. 


-C— nr— X-A 


I     > 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


